Pa. Supreme Court orders counties to set aside undated and wrongly dated mail ballots and not count

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Tue Nov 1, 2022, 07:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Pa. Supreme Court orders counties to set aside undated and wrongly dated mail ballots and not count them



by Jonathan Lai and Jeremy Roebuck
Published an hour ago

Pennsylvania counties must segregate and not count mail ballots with missing or incorrect dates, the state Supreme Court said Tuesday, in a ruling that could affect thousands of votes in November’s midterm elections.

“The Pennsylvania county boards of elections are hereby ordered to refrain from counting any absentee and mail-in ballots received for the November 8, 2022 general election that are contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes,” the court said in its order Tuesday afternoon.

The justices said they were deadlocked, 3-3, on whether rejecting undated and wrongly dated mail ballots violates federal civil rights law. They did not immediately issue any opinions that would explain the order and said they would come later. It was not immediately clear whether the court intended to have the ballots rejected altogether, since it ordered counties to set them aside and “refrain” from counting them.

“We hereby direct that the Pennsylvania county boards of elections segregate and preserve any ballots contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes,” the court said in the brief order.

(snip)

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-supreme-court-undated-mail-ballots-20221101.html

No paywall

I forgot they lost Max Baer so only have 6 on the Court. One of the (D) judges sided with the 2 (R)s.

I know some counties allow "curing" but am not sure which ones. I think at least here in Philly, there was a lot of promotions (ads including broadcast, snail mail, and social media) to those using mail ballots, to make sure to sign and date the outer envelopes and make sure the ballot was put in the secrecy envelope before putting it in the outer envelope.

But I also want to point out that although Democrats tend to use mail ballots more than Republicans in general, that doesn't mean that Democrats ONLY use mail ballots and that no Democrats will actually show up at the polls. I know even one of my sisters (who is a Democrat and lives in a suburban county) prefers to vote "in person" (her hubby has been a judge of elections in the past during most elections).

[Lovie777]

1. GQP are sure fighting any process re voting...

[jimfields33]

6. Forgetting a date would invalidate most professional forms.

I think maybe putting a big circle around where the date is would help maybe.

[Lovie777]

12. Yea ........

pretty much.

[FakeNoose]

14. The post office stamps the date on the postage

Why isn't that good enough? The Dems have already argued this in court - and won - last year.

[PortTack]

2. It's bound to hurt gqp too. Possibly forgetful with age

[badhair77]

3. The local tv stations have been vigilant about

stressing the need to sign and date the envelopes. I’m hoping if any voters don’t that they’re repubs. Some of them fight following directions.

[LenaBaby61]

4. Thank you to your sister for voting in Pennsylvania .....

EVERY vote counts

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Me & my other sis mailed our ballots here in PA (we 3 are in different counties)

Mine was received and recorded Oct. 18 so we "mailers" are done!

[LenaBaby61]

10. THANK YOU ALL, for voting to save our democracy in the Keystone State ....

[BumRushDaShow]

13. My sisters and I and a couple cousins text back and forth

and the cousin who lives in GA early-voted last week so that's another vote on the books - in GA to boot!

[SheltieLover]

5. Precise why I vote in person.

Not a popular opinion on DU, but I absolutely would never trust dejoy's dysfunction with my vote.

[sanatanadharma]

7. I am in habit of living in and relating to and writing a day-month-year

So due to a writing habit I could be disfranchised in a month-day-year world.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. There are a lot of current and former military who do that

I had coworkers who did it automatically as well as tending to "accidentally" use 24 hour clock time.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. I prefer to name the month.

So today is Nov 1, 2022. Alternatively, 1 Nov, 2022. Either way it's crystal clear.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Yep, this is why I vote in person early.

Alas, in Pennsylvania that's not an option.