Pennsylvania court loosens mail-in voting rules, but fast-track appeal likely

HARRISBURG, PA — A divided Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Wednesday that the envelopes voters use to mail ballots do not have to be precisely dated by hand, weighed after the state Supreme Court walked around problem and six days before the end of voting in the presidential election.

3-2 solution The Commonwealth Court has upheld a Philadelphia judge’s ruling that 69 mail-in ballots must be counted in a pair of single-candidate state House special elections held in September.

The majority said the mandate to set dates on outer envelopes that are not needed to determine whether a ballot arrived on time violates a state constitutional provision that says elections must be free and equal and no civil or military authority can interfere in the “free exercise of elections.” voting rights.”

In Justice Ellen Zeisler’s majority opinion, the envelope-dating rules “limit the right to have votes counted in a special election to only those voters who correctly date their mail ballots, and effectively deny that right to all other qualified voters who seek to timely exercise their right by mail.” , but made minor errors or omissions.”

Zeisler, in a footnote, urged the national and state Republican parties that lost the case to “act expeditiously if they wish to appeal this decision.”

Republican attorney Linda A. Kearns said an appeal would be filed in the coming days.

“We know the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has already spoken on this issue,” Kearns said Wednesday. “Pennsylvania law requires voters to sign and date mail ballots—an important guarantee of election integrity.”

Lawyers for two Philadelphia voters who sued to have their ballots counted welcomed the decision but acknowledged it may not be the last word.

“We hope every county will comply with this ruling when processing mail-in ballots next month,” Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Public Interest Law Center, said in a statement. She advised voters to still date their return envelopes and correct any voting errors if they can.

In a dissent, Judge Matthew Wolf said his colleagues should have simply taken the case to the state Supreme Court or at least waited until after the election.

“The majority unequivocally finds that any decision by a county board of elections to not count undated or incorrectly dated mail and absentee ballots violates the Free and Fair Elections Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution,” Wolf wrote.

Another dissent, written by Justice Patricia McCullough, called the majority’s decision “a significant change in voting rules at the last minute and on plausible grounds.”

“Bad decisions made at the wrong time doubly threaten the integrity of Pennsylvania’s elections and the public’s confidence in them,” McCullough said.

Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court rejected a request from voting rights organizations and left-leaning groups to block counties from throwing out mail-in ballots without accurate, handwritten dates, citing earlier rulings that courts should avoid confusing voters the day before elections.