Undated and Misdated Mail-in Ballots Won't Be Counted, Per Pennsylvania Supreme Court

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/undated-and-misdated-mail-in-ballots-must-be-counted-pennsylvania-supreme-court-rules/By Rachel Selzer

September 13, 2024

In a 4-3 order issued today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated a Commonwealth Court decision that would have required counties in the battleground state to count mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect handwritten dates on their outer return envelopes.

According to the ruling, which stands to put thousands of voters at risk of disenfranchisement this November, the Commonwealth Court lacked jurisdiction over the matter since the plaintiffs failed to name all 67 Pennsylvania Counties as defendants to the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, federal courts are currently considering whether tossing mail-in ballots based solely on date issues runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution. A federal judge previously held that the rejection of mail-in ballots based on missing or incorrect dates contravenes a provision of the Civil Rights Act, but the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision.

As of now, it is unclear as to whether those federal cases will be resolved prior to the upcoming election.

Not good.

[BlueKota]

1. That sucks.

Too bad they aren't allowed to contact the voters who put the wrong date, get permission to throw out the invalid ballots, and send a new one to them, to fill out correctly.

[lindysalsagal]

2. This in entirely deliberate vote-reduction. This is not necessary: It's STRATEGY.

[imaginary girl]

3. What do they mean by incorrect dates?

How do they know when the ballots were filled out?

[lindysalsagal]

5. You have to date and sign. It risks disqualification.

[BlueKota]

8. Mark Elias did mention you have to sign

the back of the envelope too.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

4. Republicans are really stupid.

Do they really think that only democrats might forget to date the outside of the envelopes?

[BlueKota]

7. I was thinking the same thing.

How do they know some of them aren't votes for Republicans?

[Mossfern]

12. Yup

That's the first thing that came to mind for me.

[MichMan]

6. What is so hard about filling in the correct date ?

[servermsh]

10. Stats

It's just historically true that in PA a non-neglible number of mail-in ballots come in without dates. I want them to be counted, but I'm not optimistic at this point.

[servermsh]

9. This is sad because it is a majority Democratic court

Now, this ruing was not on the merits, so perhaps there is still hope, but I'm not optimistic.

[hawkeye21]

11. More judicial bullshit. Checks and balances my ass.

Not only is the country brimming with MAGA cult members so brainwashed they'd stand by while Trump shot their mom, but where in the hell did all these partisan, clueless, antidemocratic judges come from?

Never tell me, or any other decent human, to respect the "law" in any form. Justice isn't blind. It's gawdamn fascist.