Supreme Court's Alito tells Pennsylvania counties to separate late ballots

Electoral workers count postal ballots following the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. November 6, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Mu?oz

(Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday night ordered county election boards in Pennsylvania to comply with a state directive to separate mail-in ballots received after 8 p.m. on Election Day from other ballots.

The order came in a case pending before the justices to invalidate a September decision by the state's highest court that allowed election officials to count mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday's Election Day that are delivered through Friday. Alito granted the request by Pennsylvania Republicans to separate the ballots without first referring the request to the other justices.