PHILADELPHIA - A federal appeals court in Philadelphia on Friday rejected an effort led by a Republican congressional candidate to block about 9,300 ballots that arrived after Election Day.CONTINUING COVERAGE: You Decide 2020The three-judge panel, led by Chief U.S.
Circuit Judge Brooks Smith, noted the “unprecedented challenges” facing the nation this year, especially the “vast disruption” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Smith said the panel ruled “with commitment to a proposition indisputable in our democratic process: that the lawfully cast vote of every citizen must count.”The ruling involves the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to accept mail-in ballots that arrived by Friday, Nov.