A federal judge ruled this week that mail-in ballots that are not correctly dated by the Pennsylvania voters who cast them must be counted in next year’s elections.
The ruling essentially means that votes in the battleground state that cannot be properly vetted as legitimate could help decide which presidential candidate receives the commonwealth’s 20 electoral votes.
In a ruling over a lawsuit brought about over Pennsylvania ballots that were sent by mail in the 2022 election but not counted, the judge argued that existing Pennsylvania election law regarding ballots sent through the mail violates the civil rights of those who failed to fill them out correctly.
The New York Times reported Judge Susan Paradise Baxter of the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued a 77-page opinion about problematic ballots.
In her response to a lawsuit over the matter filed by a number of far-left activist groups, Baxter ruled against a number of Pennsylvania county election boards.
In her ruling, Baxter addressed Pennsylvania voters who claimed they were “disenfranchised in the November 2022 election because their mail ballots were not counted” after they neglected to fill them out properly.
The judge claimed that requiring such ballots to be properly dated violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s provision on voting.
“The provision protects a citizen’s right to vote by forbidding a state actor from disqualifying a voter because of their failure to provide or error in providing some unnecessary information on a voting application or ballot,” Baxter stated.
She added such ballots “should be counted because their statutory rights have been violated.”
Should mail-in voting be significantly scaled back?
Yes: 100% (43 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
The ruling was celebrated by the far-left American Civil Liberties Union on X:
BREAKING: A federal court in Pennsylvania just ruled that voters who submit mail ballots in time for an election but forget to write the date on the mail ballot envelope will still have their ballots counted.
— ACLU (@ACLU) November 21, 2023
The ACLU’s celebration of the decision was met with pushback from people who expressed concerns that the ruling will undermine the integrity of next year’s election:
Objectively speaking, this makes it easier for bad actors to cheat in voting. So interesting to see which groups cheer on such things. https://t.co/0KOO0p9Im7
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) November 22, 2023
Does your bank check “count” if you forgot to write the date on it? Survey says no. So why is the vote — that much more important than your utility invoice — not subject to the same protections? You know why. This decision is wrong and shouldn’t stand. https://t.co/ede1LdGR1f
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) November 22, 2023
If I choose to vote in person, and show up at the polling station on the wrong day, I lose my chance to vote. That’s how it works.
This ruling should be opposed by all rational people who don’t want elections gamed by any side. https://t.co/yJv6xIAWzo
— Andrea Micieli (@AndreaMicieli) November 22, 2023
….and incredibly they will find thousands of undated mail-in ballots days after the election and they will all be for Biden. https://t.co/M7oRm0ZkK2
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) November 22, 2023
lol abject corruption
undated ballots now to be accepted, hilarious https://t.co/b3VtO8gePR
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) November 22, 2023
The New York Times predicted the case could end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court before next November.
Baxter was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump in December 2017 and confirmed by the Senate the following August.
