Pennsylvania Supreme Court sides with GOP in last-minute mail-in ballot dispute

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down an attempt to allow mail-in ballots that do not have a handwritten date to be counted in the 2024 election.

The ruling overturns a Commonwealth Court decision that found a state law requiring a handwritten date to be unconstitutional. Republican Party of Pennsylvania appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, and now undated mail-in ballots will not be counted in the upcoming election.

Justice Kevin Dougherty reprimanded the Commonwealth Court for its decision in a strongly worded opinion on Friday’s decision.

“This court will neither impose nor approve significant changes to existing laws and procedures during the upcoming election.” We uttered these carefully chosen words just a few weeks ago, but they apparently fell on deaf ears in Commonwealth Court, the very court where much of the election process unfolds,” Dougherty wrote.

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“Today’s order, to which I accede, gives the right to the ship. And it sends a loud signal to all Commonwealth courts: by stating that we will not support significant changes to existing laws and procedures during the upcoming election, we have said what we have meant and meant what we have said,” he continued.

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Pennsylvania Republicans cheered Friday’s decision, saying Democrats have repeatedly tried to undermine the dating requirement.

“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the law, and the ballot-dating requirement will remain in effect for this election. Democrats have repeatedly tried to eliminate this important voting guarantee, and we have stopped them every time,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. . “We are committed to protecting critical ballot security to ensure every ballot is cast and counted properly, and will continue to fight across Pennsylvania to protect the vote.”

State officials who favor allowing undated ballots to be counted say the change will make the process easier for election workers. The Pennsylvania Department of State filed a motion in favor of the change ahead of the court’s ruling Friday.

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“Requiring county boards to set aside mail-in ballots with misspelled announcement dates—and especially requiring them to set aside mail-in ballot envelopes with “wrong” dates—has placed a significant burden on county boards. Election officials must manually check each ballot envelope to determine if it has the “correct” date,” the message said, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

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Friday’s decision marked the second time in a month that Supreme Court of Pennsylvania blocked Democratic-backed efforts to repeal the dating requirement.