The state Supreme Court has ruled that county boards of elections should not reject absentee or mail-in votes based on “signature comparison.”

The ruling was made in an opinion released on Friday afternoon.

State Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar asked the court to answer the following question: “Whether the Election Code authorizes or requires county election boards to reject voted absentee or mail-in ballots during pre-canvassing and canvassing based on signature analysis where there are alleged or perceived signature variances?”

The Trump campaign as well as other state and national Republican groups sought to intervene in the suit and made the argument that the code required signature verification.

The court said it took the question “because we determined the Secretary presented an issue of public importance that required our immediate intervention.”

When a voter completes a mail-in ballot, they’ll place it in the secrecy envelope.

That envelope then goes in the return envelope. On the back of the return envelope is the voter declaration, where the voter will sign and date the ballot.

The county’s poll books include each voter’s signature from when they registered to vote or most recently changed their status so such comparison is possible.

Those signatures are the target of this Supreme Court order.

“We conclude that the Election Code does not authorize or require county election boards to reject absentee or mail-in ballots during the canvassing process based on analysis of a voter’s signature on the ‘declaration’ contained on the official ballot return envelope for the absentee or mail-in ballot,” the court ruled.

The justices determined that “even if there were ambiguity with respect to these provisions, we observe that the General Assembly has been explicit whenever it has desired to require election officials to undertake an inquiry into the authenticity of a voter’s signature.”

The order also states that the election code “presently provides no mechanism for time-of-canvassing challenges by candidate or party representatives,” as well.

Subsequently, boards of elections are “not to reject absentee or mail-in ballots for counting, computing, and tallying based on signature comparisons conducted by county election officials or employees,or as the result of third-party challenges based on such comparisons.”