The Maryland Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court — will decide when mail ballots should be counted in this fall’s general election.

The court will hold oral arguments in the case next Friday, Oct. 7, after receiving written briefings from the Maryland State Board of Elections, which wants the option to count mail ballots as they arrive ahead of Election Day. Dan Cox, the Republican candidate for governor, opposes early counting.

The question before the court will be whether to uphold a lower court’s ruling that allows the confidential early counting for this election, rather than the standard post-Election Day counting that could take weeks due to an expected crush of Marylanders voting by mail.

The issue of counting mail ballots has been the subject of a swift series of legal filings and court decisions.

The Maryland State Board of Elections sought and won permission from a lower court judge to begin processing and tabulating vote-by-mail ballots as early as Saturday. Elections officials have said few if any counties will actually start the tally that soon. Ballots are just now being mailed out to voters who have requested them.

Cox appealed that ruling to the Court of Special Appeals, the lower of the state’s two appeals courts. That court ordered on Thursday that the pre-Election Day ballot counting can proceed while the case plays out.

Then on Friday, the higher appeals court, the Court of Appeals, granted a request from the Maryland State Board of Elections to hear the case on an accelerated schedule.

“This matter in particular requires expeditious resolution, as local boards of election must prepare now to canvass ballots (or not) in the coming days,” Daniel Kobrin, an assistant attorney general representing the elections board, wrote in a filing.

In a filing on Cox’s behalf, attorney Ed Hartman said the candidate agrees that the Maryland Court of Appeals’ “immediate attention is desirable and in the public interest.”

Both sides will be required to file written legal arguments on Tuesday, followed by responses on Thursday and oral arguments next Friday.

All along, lawyers for elections officials have argued they need a one-time permission to count the ballots as they come in because they believe an emergency situation exists with so many mail ballots expected to come in and so little time to count them after the election, with deadlines looming for certifying the results and swearing the victorious candidates into office.

Cox’s lawyers have said this situation was long known to be a potential problem, so therefore it is not an emergency. They also have said it violates the Maryland Constitution to have the judicial branch making changes to an election, which is generally the responsibility of the legislative branch.

Maryland is the only state in the nation to forbid election officials from preparing and counting mail ballots until two days after Election Day. Lawmakers attempted to change the law this year, but Republican Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed the bill because it lacked a signature verification requirement for mail ballots.

pamela.wood@thebaltimorebanner.com