Supreme Court won't block eased rules for Rhode Island absentee ballots

Thursday's order is a loss for the Republican National Committee, which had asked the court to step in after lower courts ruled to uphold the new absentee ballot rules. The witness requirement was eliminated at the height of the pandemic, and applied to absentee ballots during the state's rescheduled presidential primary on June 2.

The order was unsigned. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted the RNC's request for a stay.

In its filing to the Supreme Court, the Republicans argued that the pandemic won't prevent voters from getting signatures from witnesses or a notary.

"That task is not unusually difficult - certainly no more difficult than getting a photo ID," the party's filing stated.

"Witnesses can be family, friends, coworkers, congregants, teachers, waiters, bartenders, gymgoers, neighbors, grocers, and more. And every bank, credit union, UPS, and FedEx has a notary," it added.

The decision to extend the elimination of the witness requirement for the general election came as part of an agreement between the Democratic-run state government and a group of voters who brought a lawsuit asking the rule to be waived during the pandemic.

In a ruling last week, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals declined to reinstate the witness requirement.

The Supreme Court noted that since state officials in Rhode Island agreed to ease the witness requirements on the absentee ballots, Republicans challenging the new rules did not have adequate reason to stop the ballots from being sent out.

Rhode Island is scheduled to begin mailing absentee ballots to residents on Friday in advance of its September state primary election.

Under Rhode Island law, any voter may request an absentee ballot and they are not required to list a reason.