The Supreme Court will not fast-track a challenge to North Carolina’s move to count mail-in ballots several days after Election Day.
The swing state’s Board of Elections had extended the deadline for counting mail-in ballots through Nov. 12 — nearly nine days after the Nov. 3 election. Republican lawmakers in the state challenged the extension.
Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, and Justice Samuel A. Alito disagreed with the court’s move not to step in.
Justice Gorsuch, who Justice Alito joined, authored an opinion, noting the high court got involved in a similar challenge out of Wisconsin and should have done so in North Carolina.
“Such last-minute changes by largely unaccountable bodies, too, invite confusion, risk altering election outcomes, and in the process threaten voter confidence in the results,” Justice Gorsuch wrote.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not participate in Wednesday’s decision.
There are 15 electoral college votes up for grabs in North Carolina.
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