Pennsylvania election officials will be instructed not to count mail-in ballots that are undated or contain incorrect dates, marking the latest development in a yearslong legal battle just days before the midterm elections.
The state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that election officials should not count undated ballots while tallying votes on Election Day, instead instructing poll workers to separate them from other ballots while preserving them. The judges deadlocked on the decision, 3-3, noting their full opinion would follow at a later date.
DEMOCRATS LEAD IN EARLY AND MAIL-IN VOTING AS MORE THAN 22 MILLION BALLOTS ALREADY CAST
“The GOP, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Pennsylvania Republican Party just secured a massive election integrity win in Pennsylvania,” said Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, in a statement. “The PA Supreme Court agrees with us that incorrectly or undated mail ballots can not be counted in next week’s elections. Republicans went to court. Now Democrats have to follow the law.”
The decision on Tuesday comes after the state Supreme Court found itself evenly divided on whether counting undated or incorrectly dated ballots violates federal law. The law in question prohibits election officials from denying one’s right to vote “because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting” if the error is unrelated to whether the individual is legally eligible to vote.
The lawsuit (filed by the RNC, the NRCC, the Pennsylvania GOP, and some individual voters) comes in response to a similar decision in which the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that undated ballots should be counted for the 2020 election but not for future contests. That decision prompted a flurry of lawsuits, perpetuating a yearslong legal battle in the Keystone State.
Pennsylvania law requires voters to date their ballots, mandating that only ballots received by election officials by the time polls close are legitimate — essentially meaning the date on which they’re cast has no effect on whether they’re counted.
The law especially took focus earlier this year after a federal appeals court ruled that undated ballots submitted for a November 2021 county election could be counted so long as they were otherwise received on time — raising the stakes of the GOP Senate primary between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick.
McCormick, who was narrowly trailing Oz before his eventual defeat, argued undated ballots should count in the race, whereas Oz and other Republicans argued they should not. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in June 2021 to allow undated ballots to be counted in that race, although by that point, McCormick had already conceded to Oz.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
It’s not yet clear how the ruling will influence the midterm elections in Pennsylvania, although it’s expected only a small number of ballots will be left uncounted. However, the decision may have a larger effect on Democrats as they are more likely to cast mail-in ballots — potentially swaying the consequential Senate race between Oz and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D-PA) in the GOP’s favor.
More than 909,000 mail-in ballots have been received in Pennsylvania so far, with a majority (71.1%) being submitted from the Democrats, according to the United States Elections Project.
