State Rep. Tim Bonner, R-8th, the Butler County Republican Committee and others appealed an automatic hold on the Commonwealth Court’s ruling that the state’s no-excuse mail-in voting is unconstitutional.

In an application for termination of a stay filed with the Commonwealth Court on Monday, Bonner and county Republicans asked the court to end an automatic stay on the ruling, which was granted when the state appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.

The Commonwealth Court ruled Friday that Act 77, which established a no-excuse mail-in voting scheme, violated the state constitution. Gov. Tom Wolf and Leigh Chapman, acting secretary of the commonwealth, appealed to the state’s high court the same day.

“Since mail-in ballots were first made available by historic bipartisan legislation, more than 4.7 million of these ballots have been cast by Pennsylvania voters,” a Department of State statement issued Friday reads in part. “The department stands by the use of this secure, convenient and accessible method of voting.”

Under Pennsylvania law, the ruling of a lower court is stayed if the government appeals the decision, temporarily halting the ruling until a higher court rules on the case.

Although the stay is automatic, the other party to the case still can move to lift the stay. In the Act 77 case, such a lift would mean no-excuse mail-in voting would be unconstitutional unless the state Supreme Court rules otherwise.

"As far as mail-in voting goes, it was declared illegal, declared unconstitutional, but because they get an automatic stay they can still have mail-in voting,“ said Tom King, a Butler attorney representing the county’s Republican committee. "The practical effect would be, the court said it was unconstitutional. The governor appealed, he got an automatic stay, but now we're appearing to the courts to get rid of that automatic stay.”

King said he expects to hear back from the Commonwealth Court soon.

“In my experience, they’ll deal with it fairly quickly,” he said. “I think we’ll hear the whole thing within a week or 10 days.”