>>145198 Pennsylvania Counties Must Count Undated and Misdated Mail-in Ballots, Court Rules
In a 94-page opinion issued this afternoon, the four-judge majority held that Pennsylvania’s strict enforcement of the handwritten date rule for mail-in ballots violates the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the state constitution’s Free and Equal Elections Clause.
“The refusal to count undated or incorrectly dated but timely mail ballots submitted by otherwise eligible voters because of meaningless and inconsequential paperwork errors violates the fundamental right to vote recognized in the free and equal elections clause,” the opinion reads.
Today’s decision stems from a state-level lawsuit filed in May by Black Political Empowerment Project and other nonprofit organizations seeking to stop Pennsylvania’s 67 counties from enforcing the state’s handwritten date rule for mail-in ballots. The lawsuit was the first to ever challenge the handwritten date rule as a violation of the right to vote provided by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
