A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday ordered a pause to any election certification proceedings still pending in the state, as part of a lawsuit brought by a number of Republican candidates and legislators, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
In her preliminary order, Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough granted a hearing on the Republican suit that alleges the state’s broad expansion of mail-in voting was unconstitutional and seeks to have those ballots tossed out.
More than 2.6 million Pennsylvanians voted by mail in the presidential race. Just under 2 million of them were votes for Biden.
In the presidential race, the Wednesday order halts the process “to the extent that there remains any further action to perfect the certification of the results,” meaning the small number of ballots that remain to be tabulated by county election boards around the state.
McCullough scheduled a hearing for Friday. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro wrote on Twitter that the order “does not impact yesterday’s appointment of electors,” referring to the 20 electoral votes Biden is set to receive from Pennsylvania.
The attorney general’s office filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court within hours of the Commonwealth Court action.
The order comes a day after Pennsylvania certified Joe Biden's victory in the state.
On Saturday, a US federal judge turned down the Trump campaign’s request for an injunction against the certification of election results in Pennsylvania.
Trump’s lawyers later said they would be seeking expedited appeal of the judge's ruling.