Trump campaign asks Supreme Court to halt North Carolina absentee ballot plan

President Trump’s reelection campaign has again asked the Supreme Court to block North Carolina’s absentee ballot plan after unsuccessfully attempting to have it struck down through a U.S. federal appeals court.

Reuters reports the plan Trump’s campaign is contesting would allow absentee ballots that arrive by Nov. 12 to be counted in North Carolina as long as they are postmarked before Nov. 3. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 12-3 decision that it would deny a bid to stop North Carolina from tallying ballots in that time frame.

In their filing to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the Trump campaign requested an emergency injunction to strike it down. 

“An emergency injunction is urgently needed to ensure that our federal election is governed by the statutes enacted by the people’s duly elected representatives, and not by the whims of an unelected state agency.”

North Carolina is a top swing state in the presidential race. Trump won the state four years ago, and it has only gone for a Democratic presidential candidate once, in 2008, in recent cycles. 

Yet polls show a very close race, with Democratic nominee Joe Biden leading Trump in a number of surveys.

A CBS News-YouGov poll released on Sunday found Biden leading Trump 51 percent to 46 percent. 

The state is also hosting a tight Senate race that will help determine the next majority. The CBS-YouGov poll found Democrat Cal Cunningham leading Republican Sen. Thom Tillis 49 percent to 43 percent.

In Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court upheld a similar plan that allows votes to be counted as long as they arrive no more than three days after Election Day.

Trump has repeatedly argued that mail-in ballots would result in massive voter fraud, though there is no evidence to suggest there is more fraud associated with mail-in voting than in-person voting. Mail-in voting is increasing this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Updated at 10:30 a.m.