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

The ruling – appearing to specifically target mail-in and absentee ballots, was made in an opinion released on Friday afternoon.

“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 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, however, ruled that 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.”

See Saturday’s Times Observer for additional coverage.