Over 3M in Pa. apply for mail-in ballots

A week ahead of the Nov. 3 election, applications in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania for mail-in or absentee ballots have exceeded 3 million, with Tuesday the last day to request one.

State data shows that, of those applications, more than 57% have been returned to counties.

More than 9 million

Pennsylvanians have registered to vote, a record high. If turnout is 70%, which was the rate in 2016 s presidential election in Pennsylvania, that means 6.3 million people will vote.

The majority of people, 1.9 million, applying for mail-in or absentee ballots are Democrats, according to state data. About 760,000 are Republicans and 350,000 are registered independents or third-party voters.

Meanwhile, Luzerne

County on Tuesday asked Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from consideration of the state Republican Party’s request that the U.S. Supreme Court block counties from counting mailed-in ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election.

The filing by Luzerne County came shortly after Barrett was formally sworn in as the Supreme Court’s ninth justice.

The justices last week divided 4-4 on the GOP’s request to put a hold on the deadline extension, which left it in place while justices consider the underlying case.

The state Supreme Court ruled in September that county election officials must count mailed-in ballots that arrive up until Nov. 6, even if they don’t have a clear postmark, as long as there is no proof it was mailed after the polls closed.