If the vote in Pennsylvania today is as close as it was in 2016 and 2020, we could be hearing a lot about provisional ballots and "ballot curing" in the days to come. Voters who make mistakes on their mail-in ballots can cast provisional ballots on Election Day in a process known as "ballot curing." Provisional ballots can also be cast on Election Day by people with outstanding mail-in ballots, and there were around 390,000 outstanding as of Monday, NBC News reports. In 2016, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the state by around 44,000 votes. In 2020, President Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania by around 80,000 votes.
NBC News predicts that around 150,000 more mail-in ballots will arrive in time to be counted and around 90,000 people who requested mail-in ballots will vote in person, with around 35,000 using provisional ballots. The "outstanding mail ballots are disproportionately held by registered Democrats," according to NBC News. The provisional ballots won't be counted until officials confirm that mail ballots weren't counted, meaning Democratic vote totals could keep rising for days after Election Day.
- According to NBC News' data, around 4,400 ballots rejected for errors like a missing signature on the affidavit on outside of the return envelope have already been "cured" under policies that vary from county to county.
- Last week, the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal from Republicans who had sought to block the counting of provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected due to errors.
- Provisional ballots are also cast when there are questions about a voter's eligibility, including a lack of proper ID, GoErie reports. They aren't counted until eligibility is confirmed.
- Sources tell the New York Times that Elon Musk's super PAC has sent a last-minute team to Pennsylvania to assist with ballot curing, suggesting that "in the final hours, he and his team think the state will be very tight and that curing even a few ballots could be worth it" to help Trump win the battleground state.
- Officials say more than 4,000 mail-in ballots have been challenged across 14 Pennsylvania counties. Those ballots will be sequestered until after county elections board officials hold hearings, which have to happen by Friday at the latest, the AP reports.
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