U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly is leading a suit filed Saturday in Pennsylvania challenging the use of mail-in ballots predominately cast by Democrats in lifting Joe Biden to victory in the presidential race in the state and seeking to block certification of the election results.

The lawsuit was filed in the state Commonwealth Court, just two days before the deadline for counties to certify the results of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, and marks the latest attempt in court by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, to overturn Biden's victory in Pennsylvania.

The plaintiffs contend that the GOP-controlled legislature never followed the proper constitutional procedures to expand exceptions to in-person voting to institute a system of universal mail-in voting and are asking the court to throw out non-absentee mail-in ballots.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a Twitter posting that the elected officials and candidates who joined the suit “should be ashamed of themselves.”

“They're asking a court to throw out the votes of 2.5 million Pennsylvanians,” said Shapiro, a Democrat. “It's another weak attempt to subvert the will of the people. Desperate, hypocritical, baseless... I could go on.”

Courts have thus far rejected Republican demands in Pennsylvania and other battleground states to throw out ballots or stop vote counting. Republicans in the state Legislature and Pennsylvania's congressional delegation have largely fallen in line with Trump, complaining about how the state managed the election, calling for the resignation of the governor's top elections official and an audit of the election.

More than 2.6 million mail-in ballots were reported received by counties, and there has been no report by state or county election officials of fraud or any other problem with the accuracy of the count.