UPDATED: 4:13 p.m., Monday:

A Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on Monday afternoon meant Bucks County Judge Robert Baldi’s ruling will stand.

The development led to Bucks County certifying the 2020 general election results.

Bucks County government filed a motion to get the Pennsylvania Supreme Court involved in the case.

Original Story:

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has appealed a Bucks County judge’s decision from last week to dismiss a petition to toss around 2,000 ballots cast in the general election.

The appeal was filed Friday afternoon and, as of Monday, the Trump campaign was seeking for the case to be expedited, according to a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court docket.

The Trump campaign effort was to get a Bucks County Common Pleas Court judge to invalidate about 2,000 ballots it claimed were defective under the state election code. The ballots all featured some relatively minor problem, including the outer envelope not being properly filled out, the privacy envelope not being sealed, or markings or smudges.

There was a hearing at the Justice Center in Doylestown Borough last week and Trump campaign made their case. The Bucks County Board of Elections presented the position that the mistakes were minor and no ill-intent was discovered. Attorneys for the Democratic National Committee, Bucks County Democratic Committee, and PA House Democratic Committee argued the ballots should be counted.

Last Thursday, Bucks County Judge Robert Baldi dismissed the claims by the Trump campaign.

He called dumping the ballots that had unsealed privacy envelops an “injustice” and that it would “disenfranchise” voters.

The judge wrote in his decision that voters and county election boards across the state could benefit for “clear precise legislation” from lawmakers in Harrisburg regarding ballots with minor problems for future elections.

Last week, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, the chairperson for the Board of Elections, and Joe Khan, the county solicitor, said they were “grateful” for Baldi’s decision.

“The Election Code isn’t a game of gotcha. It’s a playbook for protecting the vote,” Khan said.

Trump lost Bucks County to former Vice President Joe Biden by about 17,300 votes, according to results expected to be certified Monday afternoon.

A Bucks County Board of Elections meeting set for noon Monday was delayed until 3:45 p.m. due to the appeal. The board planned to certify the election results at the meeting.

Last week, the Trump campaign agreed on a stipulation that noted there was no evidence of fraud, misconduct, impropriety, and undue influence in Bucks County’s election. Local Democrats and Republicans have made similar statements that there was no fraud. Federal, state and local law enforcement and security officials have reported no evidence of widespread fraud across the state.

Trump and his campaign have held the position they won Pennsylvania despite getting tens of thousands of votes less than Biden, who is projected to have won the election nationally. The president and his allies have alleged massive election fraud but have been unable to substantiate the claims in court or to the public.

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