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UPDATED: Sept. 3, 12:50 p.m.
The lawsuit was filed in Commonwealth Court by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party back in June. It asks the court to extend the deadline for counting mail-in ballots, to allow mail-in ballot drop boxes, to keep residency requirements for poll watchers, and more. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered all parties in the case to provide any additional briefing by this coming Tuesday.
“This is really important, that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is taking over jurisdiction of this case,” says Mimi McKenzie, legal director for the Public Interest Law Center.
McKenzie represents voters seeking to intervene in the lawsuit and says the state’s high court rarely usurps lower-court jurisdiction. But with the election two months away, she believes, voters need certainty.
“And now voters will have an answer with regard to important issues,” she said, noting the court also exercised this type of jurisdiction on other voting cases near an election.
A judge in federal court in the western district recently suspended a case filed by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Convention that challenged many of the issues raised in the Democrats' state lawsuit. The Republicans asked the court to stop counties from allowing drop boxes for mail-in ballots and to end residency requirements for poll watchers, citing the potential for voter fraud and voter harvesting.
The RNC was unable to provide any evidence supporting its claim of fraud, so the court declined to rule in order to give the state court time to weigh in.
Although Gov. Tom Wolf will likely veto it, Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg passed House Bill 112-90 and sent it to the state Senate for review.
Pa. Rep. Malcom Kenyatta is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.