Republicans wanted some so-called provisional ballots to be rejected.

The United States Supreme Court has dismissed an effort by Republicans to prevent the counting of provisional ballots in Pennsylvania – a move that would have meant thousands of votes were not tallied.

Republicans in the state, which Joe Biden and the Democrats narrowly won in the 2020 US presidential election on their way to victory, had argued that “tens of thousands of votes” could be at stake and ought to have been rejected.

Reports suggested that as of late this week, somewhere close to 9,000 ballots out of more than 1.6 million were returned, as they had arrived at election offices around Pennsylvania lacking a secrecy envelope, a signature or a date.

The ruling is a victory for voting-rights advocates, who had tried to force various counties, especially Republican-controlled counties, to allow voters to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day if they had realised their mail-in ballot was to be rejected for any of a variety of errors.

Provisional ballots generally protect voters from being excluded from the voting process if their eligibility is uncertain on Election Day. The vote is counted once officials confirm eligibility.

The Associated Press said the court ruling could apply to thousands of ballots, and possibly more, according to elections experts.

‘The right to vote means the right to have your vote counted’

The Supreme Court justices left in place a decision by Pennsylvania’s top court that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.

Democrats had intervened on the side of the activists, arguing that if a defective mail-in ballot could not be counted, that person had not yet voted and a provisional ballot must be counted.

Harris campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler and Democratic National Committee spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin said in a joint statement after the Supreme Court acted: “In Pennsylvania and across the country, Trump and his allies are trying to make it harder for your vote to count, but our institutions are stronger than his shameful attacks. [This] decision confirms that, for every eligible voter, the right to vote means the right to have your vote counted.”