1. The first paragraph of a news article should answer the questions who, what, where and when. List the who, what, where and when of this news item. (NOTE: The remainder of a news article provides details on the why and/or how.)

2. a) For what reason did Republicans ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their challenge to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to allow absentee and mail-in ballots to be accepted up to 3 days after Election Day?
b) What do you think of the Republicans’ argument?

3. For what reason did Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court (which is made up of 5 elected Democratic judges, 1 elected Republican judge and 1 judge appointed by the Democratic governor) rule in favor of the request for the deadline extension?

4. a) Before now, what was the deadline for receiving absentee ballots in Pennsylvania?
b) Why did Democrats in Pennsylvania push for the deadline extension?
c) What do you think of the Democrats’ argument?

5. Democrats across the country support extending mail-in ballot deadlines, saying all voters ballots should be counted and some won’t arrive on time for Election Day due to the Post Office delivery and/or coronavirus. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan are all battleground states: in 2016, Donald Trump won each of those states by very small margins.
He won Pennsylvania (and was the first Republican presidential candidate to do so since 1988) by 44,292 votes.
He won Michigan by 10,704 votes, and
he won Wisconsin by 22,748 votes.

A Michigan state judge on September 18 ruled that absentee ballots in Michigan postmarked before Election Day could be counted if they arrive two weeks after the polls close.
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Michigan’s mail-in and absentee ballots must arrive by Election Day to be valid.

CNN reports:
Previous to this year, only ballots received by 8 p.m. on Election Day could be counted in Michigan -- a policy that led to thousands of ballots getting rejected in the state's August primary. (The same problem occurred in Pennsylvania, but also occurs with absentee ballots in elections every year.)

The ruling was a victory for Democratic groups that brought the lawsuit, who have been arguing in Michigan and other battleground states that many late-arriving ballots should still be counted.

Polls show that a larger percentage of Democratic voters are voting with mail-in ballots, while a greater percentage of Republicans are voting in person on election day (or in person on an early voting day).

What do you think:

a) In Pennsylvania, voters ballots will be counted up to 3 days after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3, — even if they don't have a clear postmark, or no postmark at all, as long as there is not proof it was mailed after the polls closed. What do you think of the postmark ruling?

b) Should voters be given extra time to get their mail-in ballots in? If so, how many days? 3, 6, 10, 14? It will then still take a few days after the deadline for election officials to count the ballots.

c) Should voters be responsible to mail their ballots far enough in advance to ensure they arrive on Election Day, or does this particular deadline put an undue burden on voters, and potentially disenfranchise them? Will multiple deadlines for receiving ballots in various states cause chaos? Explain your answer.