Pennsylvania (Supreme) court: Ballots in undated envelopes won't count

[Free Vulcan]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania officials cannot count votes from mail-in or absentee ballots that lack accurate, handwritten dates on their return envelopes, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday, a week before tabulation will begin in races for governor, the U.S. Senate and the state Legislature.

The justices split 3-3 on whether making the envelope dates mandatory under state law would violate provisions of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that immaterial errors or omissions should not be used to prevent voting.

Written opinions laying out the court's reasoning were not immediately available.

State and national Republican Party organizations and several GOP voters sought immediate review by the Supreme Court, bypassing lower courts, once it became clear some county officials planned to throw out ballots without the proper dates and others were expected to count them. The individual voters were dismissed from the case by the high court’s order.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pennsylvania-court-ballots-in-undated-envelopes-wont-count/ar-AA13CPZT

[Cyber Liberty]

Didn't the PA Election people ignore their Supreme Court in 2020?

[libertybele]

Pennsylvania court says undated ballots won't be counted as RNC claims 'massive' legal victory

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman for the RNC, reacted to the court order in a Tuesday evening tweet, claiming a "massive" legal victory. "The PA Supreme Court agrees with us that incorrectly or undated mail ballots can not be counted in next week’s elections," McDaniel tweeted. "Republicans went to court. Now Democrats have to follow the law."

The Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the Pennsylvania GOP filed the lawsuit weeks ago on October 16, arguing that the state is illegally dodging state law and a Supreme Court ruling by saying it will count undated absentee ballots.

According to the GOP groups, Leigh Chapman, the Democratic acting secretary of state for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, had defied a U.S. Supreme Court decision and the Republican-majority Pennsylvania General Assembly by directing county election boards to count undated mail-in ballots.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pa-court-says-undated-ballots-wont-be-counted-rnc-scores-massive-win-in-election-integrity-lawsuit

[libertybele]

Didn't the PA Election people ignore their Supreme Court in 2020?

I don't recall but if so, there's obviously nothing to stop them from ignoring the SC again.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Didn't the PA Election people ignore their Supreme Court in 2020?

@Cyber Liberty  ----   No .....

The PA SC's decison said votes received up to 3 days after Nov 8, 2020 could be counted.  On Oct 20, the USSC split 4-4 so the lower court's decision stood.

On Nov 6, 2020, Alito, anticipating this would return to the USSC, ordered PA to segregate all votes received after Nov. 8.   PA ignored this;  but the directive became moot when the USSC refused to take up the issue again.

[BellyAche]

The steps are very clear on how to send these things in. Dating them is an obvious one. And it's also clear that missing a step invalidates the ballot. For example, in our state you have a window where certain information has to be clearly seen, so you have to fold the ballot in a certain way. If you don't see the window info, the ballot is not valid. Everything is clearly described in the instructions (in different languages to boot).  Ignorance by voters is not an excuse for states to circumvent the law!!! This smacks of desperation by the Democratic state parties. No surprise!

[Kamaji]

The steps are very clear on how to send these things in. Dating them is an obvious one. And it's also clear that missing a step invalidates the ballot. For example, in our state you have a window where certain information has to be clearly seen, so you have to fold the ballot in a certain way. If you don't see the window info, the ballot is not valid. Everything is clearly described in the instructions (in different languages to boot).  Ignorance by voters is not an excuse for states to circumvent the law!!! This smacks of desperation by the Democratic state parties. No surprise!

[Bigun]

@Cyber Liberty  ----   No .....

The PA SC's decison said votes received up to 3 days after Nov 8, 2020 could be counted.  On Oct 20, the USSC split 4-4 so the lower court's decision stood.

On Nov 6, 2020, Alito, anticipating this would return to the USSC, ordered PA to segregate all votes received after Nov. 8.   PA ignored this;  but the directive became moot when the USSC refused to take up the issue again.

Which they had absolutely no right to do!

[Bigun]

The steps are very clear on how to send these things in. Dating them is an obvious one. And it's also clear that missing a step invalidates the ballot. For example, in our state you have a window where certain information has to be clearly seen, so you have to fold the ballot in a certain way. If you don't see the window info, the ballot is not valid. Everything is clearly described in the instructions (in different languages to boot).  Ignorance by voters is not an excuse for states to circumvent the law!!! This smacks of desperation by the Democratic state parties. No surprise!

  EXACTLY correct!

[Cyber Liberty]

@Cyber Liberty  ----   No .....

The PA SC's decison said votes received up to 3 days after Nov 8, 2020 could be counted.  On Oct 20, the USSC split 4-4 so the lower court's decision stood.

On Nov 6, 2020, Alito, anticipating this would return to the USSC, ordered PA to segregate all votes received after Nov. 8.   PA ignored this;  but the directive became moot when the USSC refused to take up the issue again.

Thanks @Right_in_Virginia for that clarification!!!