Undated mail-in ballots will not be counted in Pennsylvania, even if they arrive to election officials on time.
The legal question is whether “undated ballots” violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says one’s right to vote cannot be denied for “an error or omission” that is “not material.” A three-judge panel in a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a lower court ruling in favor of counting undated ballots.
“The Provision does not apply to rules, like the date requirement, that govern how a qualified voter must cast his ballot for it to be counted,” Judge Thomas Ambro wrote in the opinion.
“The Pennsylvania General Assembly has decided that mail-in voters must date the declaration on the return envelope of their ballot to make their vote effective,” Ambro said. “The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania unanimously held this ballot-casting rule is mandatory; thus, failure to comply renders a ballot invalid under Pennsylvania law.”
The RNC led this legal battle to the appeals court and expects it to reach the Supreme Court.
“Republicans will continue to fight and win for election integrity in courts across the country ahead of the 2024 election,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said. He called the ruling “a crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence.”
Mail-in ballots and absentee ballots have existed for years in Pennsylvania and other swing states like Arizona. In Pennsylvania, Democrats have been more likely to use mail-in ballots since the state expanded their absentee ballots to encompass mail-in in 2019.
Ari Savitzky, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union representing Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP, the lead plaintiff, said they are exploring all options.
“The ballots in question in this case come from voters who are eligible and who met the submission deadline,” Savitzky said. “In passing the Civil Rights Act, Congress put a guardrail in place to be sure that states don’t erect unnecessary barriers that disenfranchise voters. It’s unfortunate that the court failed to recognize that principle.”
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In the 2022 midterm election, Pennsylvania rejected more than 10,000 ballots for not writing in a date. Pennsylvania redesigned its mail-in envelope ahead of the 2024 general election to make the handwritten date requirement more clear, including a prewritten “20” in the date line to ensure voters write the date, not their birthday.
“Our hope is that these new materials will better assist voters in making sure their completed mail ballot packet is filled out correctly and can be counted,” Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said in a statement.
