Pennsylvania Court Rules Mail-In Ballots with Incorrect Dates Won’t Be Counted 

Mail-in ballots with incorrect dates will be saved but not counted in the state of Pennsylvania, courts ruled this week.

QUICK FACTS:
  • Pennsylvania’s highest court ordered officials to discount mail-in ballots with the wrong date on the envelope, possibly disqualifying numerous votes in close races, Reuters reported.
  • Republicans filed the case in an effort to eliminate ballots with incorrect information to help ensure election integrity.
  • In its ruling, the court said that it was split on whether throwing out ballots with incorrect dates violated a federal law that makes it illegal to dispose of ballots without sound reason.
  • The Pennsylvania Supreme Court consequently ordered county boards of elections to “segregate and preserve any ballots contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes.”
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO ON NOT COUNTING IMPROPERLY DATED BALLOTS:

“When a mail-in ballot is not counted because it was not filled out correctly, the voter is not denied ‘the right to vote.’ Rather, that individual’s vote is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for casting a ballot,” Alito said.

BACKGROUND:
  • In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of counting undated mail-in ballots in a contested Pennsylvania local election, American Faith reported.
  • “Over the objection of three justices, the Court restored a federal appeals court ruling that said disqualifying ballots received on time but lacking a handwritten date on the return envelope would violate federal voting rights,” ABC News reported at the time.
  • “Pennsylvania state law requires that voters include a date next to the signature, even though mail ballots are typically postmarked and dated again by election officials when they are received. The appeals court concluded the absence of the handwritten date was an immaterial error.”
  • Last week, state data in Pennsylvania revealed nearly 250,000 ballots were mailed to voters without their identities being verified, according to Newsmax.

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