Trump campaign sought volunteers to encourage casting ballots after Election Day

President Donald Trump’s campaign sent out an email Thursday seeking volunteers to call mail-in voters and have them return ballots after Election Day, according to the Daily Beast.

Pennsylvania’s 67 county election boards are counting ballots that arrive until 5 p.m. Friday Nov. 6, but the ballots must be sent by 8 p.m. Election Day to count, under an October state Supreme Court ruling.

Such mail-in ballots would count with or without a postmark, or a marking used to invalidate a stamp that also includes a date.

If the postal service post marked the ballots before delivery, as is policy for all election mail, the ballots would not count.

Conceivably, if a ballot was sent before this Friday at 5 p.m. but after 8 p.m. election night, not postmarked, and delivered to the county election office by the Friday deadline, the ballot would still count.

The prospect of unpostmarked ballots appearing in county election offices because of the state high court ruling has served as fodder for Pennsylvania legislative Republicans to question election results.

Counting, yes, but receiving ballots after Election Day and counting them with or without postmarks is new. That is also necessary context for your tweet that lacked full context. https://t.co/4TQveVoH6U

— Jason Gottesman (@jggottesman) November 4, 2020

Then why did the PA Supreme Court say if it doesn’t have a postmark it is presumed on time? https://t.co/xBoGdhUGRP

— Jason Gottesman (@jggottesman) November 4, 2020

But in the email from Trump campaign, the top of the GOP ticket, appears to be encouraging such behavior.

The email also comes as Trump and his allies have made unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in Pennsylvania without evidence.

Whether or not the email is encouraging voters to break the law isn’t clear.