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SCOTUS Sides With S.C. To Reinstate Witness Signature Mandate For Absentee Ballots In explaining the court's decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that it was the bench's longstanding position not to alter state voting rules this close to an election.

Law

SCOTUS Sides With S.C. To Reinstate Witness Signature Mandate For Absentee Ballots

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An official mail-in ballot drop box is posted in Los Angeles. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

An official mail-in ballot drop box is posted in Los Angeles.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

The eight-person U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with South Carolina to reinstate a mandate that absentee ballots require witness signatures, even as critics argue that the coronavirus puts an undue burden on voters to safely get a witness cosign on the ballots.

The order will not apply to ballots already cast or those mailed in within the next two days, but will apply to ballots going forward for the Nov. 3 general election.

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"This Court has repeatedly emphasized that federal courts ordinarily should not alter state election rules in the period close to an election," Justice Brett Kavanaugh in explaining the court's decision.

"By enjoining South Carolina's witness requirement shortly before the election, the District Court defied that principle and this Court's precedents."