Eric Schmitt joins Republican AGs in challenging Pennsylvania mail-in ballots

Two days after former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has signed on to a court brief with other Republican attorneys general challenging mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania.

The brief is in support of a lawsuit by the Pennsylvania Republican Party asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling allowing mail-in ballots three additional days to arrive after Election Day.

“To keep those elections free and fair, we must ensure that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is not,” Schmitt said in a statement released by his office Monday afternoon.

In September, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballots could be received up to three days beyond Election Day. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court, which at the time had only eight members, refused to block the extension.

The brief filed by Schmitt and the GOP attorneys general says the state court overstepped its authority, and that its decision exacerbated the risk of absentee ballot fraud.

The underlying lawsuit is part of a spate of litigation by Republicans across the country challenging Biden’s victory. There has thus far been no evidence of widespread vote fraud.