republicans urges the US supreme court for an emergency injunction in an effort to block the counting of thousands of provisional ballots in Pennsylvania.

With a little more than a week before Election Day, the court is being asked to enter a dispute over provisional ballots issued by Pennsylvania voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures in state law , such as the lack of secret envelopes.

The Republican Pennsylvania GOP and National Committee leaders have filed an emergency petition with the nation’s highest court, seeking to halt a recent state Supreme Court decision.

The state’s high court ruled 4-3 that election officials must count provisional ballots submitted by voters whose mail-in ballots were voided because they arrived without required secrecy envelopes.

The secret envelopes keep the ballots hidden while election workers open the outer stamped envelopes used to send the entire packages back. Voters must also sign and date the outer envelopes. Pennsylvania voters have requested 2 million mail-in ballots so far.

Republicans argue that the state Legislature never authorized giving voters a chance to correct mail-in ballot errors, arguing that such redoes could tip the balance in the battleground state.

Potential impact

This case reflects the high court’s intervention four years ago in pandemic-era voting disputes. In particular, Pennsylvania, which underwent sweeping voting law changes in 2019, has faced persistent legal challenges to its vote-by-mail procedures. This time, two Butler County voters launched the lawsuit after learning that their mail-in disqualification provisional ballots had been denied.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, most counties help inform voters before Election Day that their mail-in ballot will be rejected, giving them the opportunity to provisionally vote at the polls.

However, with Pennsylvania voters already requesting millions of mail-in ballots, the stakes are high. GOP leaders have argued that segregating provisional ballots pending court rulings could prevent what they see as potential voter irregularities in a closely contested election.

What do the polls say?

It comes as battleground states, including Pennsylvania, will play a key role in determining the outcome of this year’s presidential elections. A presidential candidate must get 270 Electoral College votes to win, and winning the national popular vote does not guarantee success. Polls from battleground states can be more explanatory than national polls.

Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral votes — the most of any swing state — has voted for the overall winner in 48 of the last 59 elections.

Polls showed Vice President Kamala Harristhe Democratic candidate and former president Donald Trumpthe GOP nominee, fought a close battle nationally, with most showing Trump slightly ahead in Pennsylvania.

An Emerson College Polling/RCPA Pennsylvania poll, which was conducted Oct. 21 and 22 of 860 likely voters, showed Trump with 49 percent of voters’ support to Harris’ 48 percent, while 3 percent remained undecided . The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

According to the 538 poll, Trump is marginally ahead of Harris in Pennsylvania by 0.3 points, 48.0 percent to 47.6 percent, as of Monday. In addition, Nate SilverTrump’s silver ballot lifts him 0.2% in the state. Meanwhile, The New York TimesThe poll total has Harris leading Trump by less than 1 percent.

Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 against the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clintonwhile president Joe Biden reversed in 2020. The race in the state is expected to be decided by several thousand votes, and both major party candidates have campaigned there repeatedly.

This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.