South Carolina Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to reinstate witness signature requirements for ballot papers after an appeal court decision confirmed a federal judge’s decision to waive the requirement for the November 3 election in November. through the coronavirus pandemic.
South Carolina Democrats have filed a lawsuit over the requirement, highlighting concerns about voter turnout due to the coronavirus, the state said.
US District Judge Michelle Childs, on a September 18 order, waived the signature of the voter’s witness for this election. However, the decision was appealed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.
There, the appeals court last week reinstated Childs’ decision that would allow voters in the state to vote absent to do so without a signature.
South Carolina’s GOP filing on Thursday seeks to block Childs’s order.
The request to the higher court comes just weeks before election day and, as Senate Republicans are trying to confirm President Trump
Donald TrumpSchoen says the Trump team will be “very well prepared” after criticism that Iowa Republicans seek to cut funds for schools with 1619 Project on the curriculum Capitol protest seen smoking in the imprisoned Rotunda MOREappointed to the Supreme Court before November.
Last month, Trump appointed Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative, to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader GinsburgBiden’s commission on the judiciary must put justice on politics How President Biden can make a home run The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – House pulls Greene off the committees; Senate advances in budget MORE. Ginsburg died in late September.
A Supreme Court decision on the South Carolina case could set the tone for new requests for judges to intervene in the next election.
The South Carolina Republicans’ request came just days after Pennsylvania Republicans asked the Supreme Court to suspend a state court order that extended the due date for ballots in the mail in the battlefield state.