Posted on 10/11/2022 9:01:54 AM PDT by lightman
The Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated an appeals court decision that required Pennsylvania to count mail-in ballots even if there is no date on the envelope.
“The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit with instructions to dismiss the case as moot,” wrote Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson (pdf), siding with David Ritter, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for a judgeship.
They also threw out a U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that allowed the counting of mail-in ballots in the race that Ritter had sought to remove because voters did not write the date on the ballots. Ritter lost his 2021 bid to serve on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas after 257 mail-in ballots that didn’t have dates were counted.
Pennsylvania Republican legislators and conservatives filed amicus briefs saying the 3rd Circuit’s ruling threatened the integrity of the 2022 midterm elections.
But the Supreme Court’s action on Tuesday means that the 3rd Circuit ruling cannot be used as a precedent in the three states covered by this regional federal appellate court—Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware—to allow the counting of ballots with minor flaws such as the voter failing to fill in the date. Vacating the ruling does not change Ritter’s loss in his race. Previous Ruling
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court denied Ritter’s attempt to block the counting of ballots that lacked dates. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Days before that (pdf), a panel on the 3rd Circuit ordered the counting of the undated ballots.
Alito had written that the lower court’s ruling “could well affect the outcome” of the elections this year as voters go to the polls on Nov. 8 in midterms in which Republicans are seeking to seize control of Congress from the Democrats.
And he cited concerns that an “individual’s vote is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for casting a ballot,” adding that the appeals court interpretation is “very likely wrong.”
The 3rd Circuit had ruled that invalidating the updated ballots would violate a provision of a landmark 1964 federal law called the Civil Rights Act aimed at ensuring that minor ballot errors do not deny someone the right to vote.
The May ruling by the 3rd Circuit came in a lawsuit by several elderly voters upset that their votes would not be counted for neglecting to write the date on the mail-in ballot envelope, and what they called a “meaningless technicality.” The 3rd Circuit’s rulings also apply to the U.S. Virgin Islands territory.
However, Pennsylvania law stipulates that voters are mandated to write the date on the outer envelope on their mail-in ballot.
Before the Supreme Court’s Tuesday ruling, Republican state Sen. David Argall told The Morning Call that “there are likely to be many issues that come up during the November election” and noted other provisions, including the controversial Act 77 overhaul that was enacted in 2019 that made widespread vote-by-mail possible in Pennsylvania.
Several Republican-led states have enacted tougher voting rules, including for mail-in ballots, following the 2020 election. In Pennsylvania, there is a closely watched U.S. Senate race between Republican Mehmet Oz and Democrat John Fetterman that could help determine which party controls that chamber.
Read the very first line of the article. We are talking about future elections now.:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated an appeals court decision that required Pennsylvania to count mail-in ballots even if there is no date on the envelope.
I read as, “You stole that election but it is OK. We won’t undo it, but maybe the next time we might make you follow the rules or not - the networks call the winners anyway and we are busy trying to figure out who the rat is that leaked the abortion ruling. Too busy to worry about who the uniparty elects.
LOL - Come on, man! People read articles? Please!
So 3rd circuit tells Ritter, have to count defective ballots, Ritter goes to Supremes. SC refuses to stop counting. Ritter loses. 3rd rules you can count ballots in violation of state law. SC says no you can’t. SC establishes that 3rd circuit decision was wrong and it cost Ritter the election, but Ritters election can’t be overturned. Only if it happens again. Way to go Supremes! In other news SC refuses to hear case when a fetus becomes entitled to constitional rights. They gladly give those rights to illegals, but will not discuss for the unborn. Useless bastards washed their hands of their most important responsibility when they walked away from Roe v Wade this year. Now anyone can decide who lives and who dies. Anarchy is here we just don’t realize it. What a shame no one thought to enshrine a human right to life in the condition. The declaration mentioned it, but that’s not the law. Supremely sucking SC.
I really don’t know what I just read.
“Drop Boxes” = Fraud Machines
spend a couple of years in solitary confinement awaiting trial, and then be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
> “Ritter lost his 2021 bid to serve on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas after 257 mail-in ballots that didn’t have dates were counted.”
Dems cheated in 2020 and are now allowed to benefit from their cheat, because “moot” ..... but will need to cheat differently next time.
Easy, vote people on voting rolls who haven’t voted in years and may be expired. Just be sure date is on mail-in and you’re good to go.
The envelope has a legal statement YOU are making by signing and dating it, made under penalty of perjury. It states you have the authority to vote in the election. So yes, it is required on every ballot to be counted.
That’s how it goes... and the crazy thing is if someone challenges BEFORE the election, the court is just as likely to say the issue is not yet “ripe”. But after the election, it is “moot.”
It means nothing, as the PA SC also sided with Republicans in 2020 and was overridden by a few of its own members afterwards.
“as voters go to the polls on Nov. 8 in midterms in which Republicans are seeking to seize control of Congress from the Democrats.”
“Seize”
They make it sound like an insurrection. Between that and the misleading title then I would say the Epoch times needs a new writer. Justice has not been served by this case if I am understanding its poorly explained complexity.
Why even have rules, if the courts won’t allow them to be
enforced.
If a date is required, then it should be there to be valid.
It would be interesting if the legislature was involved at
all in setting up balloting by mail.
If not, it’s a totally illegal tool in the first place.
It was vacated as moot so it’s meaningless
I always suspected the Supreme Court was in on The Steal.
This is the dispute Amy Conehead Barrett dodged a week before the election.
“However, Pennsylvania law stipulates that voters are mandated to write the date on the outer envelope on their mail-in ballot.”
IIRC it is the Pennsylvania constitution that specifies that the date must be on the outer envelope.
I am just going based on all of the January 6, 2021, protestors who are still being held in solitary confinement awaiting trial (which will be held before juries of Hillary Clinton’s peers).
This is huge!!!!!! It will help in New Jersey because there are winnable races there. Delaware doesn’t allow mail-in ballots for the most part.
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