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

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court shut down an effort to allow mail-in ballots lacking a handwritten date to be counted in the 2024 election.

The ruling overturns a decision from a Commonwealth Court finding that the state law requiring a handwritten date was unconstitutional. The Pennsylvania GOP appealed that ruling to the state supreme court, and now undated mail-in ballots will not be counted in the upcoming election.

Justice Kevin Dougherty admonished the Commonwealth Court for its ruling in a forcefully-worded opinion relating to Friday's ruling.

"'This Court will neither impose nor countenance substantial alterations to existing laws and procedures during the pendency of an ongoing election.’ We said those carefully chosen words only weeks ago. Yet they apparently were not heard in the Commonwealth Court, the very court where the bulk of election litigation unfolds," Dougherty wrote.

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"Today’s order, which I join, rights the ship. And it sends a loud message to all courts in this Commonwealth: in declaring we would not countenance substantial alterations to existing laws and procedures during the pendency of an ongoing election, we said what we meant and meant what we said," he continued.

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Pennsylvania Republicans hailed the Friday ruling, saying Democrats have repeatedly tried to subvert the dating requirement.

"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the law, and the dated ballot requirement will be in effect for this election. Democrats have repeatedly tried to eliminate this important ballot safeguard, and we have stopped them each time," RNC Chairman  Michael Whatley said in a statement. "We are committed to protecting critical ballot safeguards to ensure every ballot is cast and counted properly and will continue to fight across Pennsylvania to Protect the Vote."

State officials in favor of allowing undated ballots to be counted argue the change would make process easier for election workers. The Pennsylvania Department of State filed a brief in favor of the change prior to the court's ruling on Friday.

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"The requirement that county boards set aside mail ballots with declaration-date errors — and particularly the requirement that they set aside mail ballot envelopes with ‘incorrect’ dates — imposed a significant burden on county boards. Election workers must manually review every ballot envelope to determine whether it has a ‘correct’ date," the brief said, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

Friday's ruling was the second time this month that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has blocked Democrat-backed efforts to dismantle the dating requirement.