Posted on 10/23/2024 7:40:20 PM PDT by lightman
Pennsylvanians must be given a chance to vote on Election Day if their mail ballots have been rejected because of a disqualifying mistake, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
That means voters who fail to correctly sign or date the return envelope or fail to use a secrecy envelope are entitled to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day at a polling place and have it counted, as long as that ballot wouldn’t be rejected for some other disqualifying issue.
In a 4-3 decision, the court said that provisional voting was meant to assure access to the right to vote, while simultaneously preventing double voting.
Justice Christine Donohue, writing for the majority, noted that the Republican litigants argued that in order to maintain election integrity, provisional ballots should not be counted, but said the majority was “at a loss to identify what honest voting principle is violated by recognizing the validity of one ballot cast by one voter.”
“If appellants presume that the general assembly intended to disqualify the provisional ballot of a voter who failed to effectively vote by mail in order to punish that voter, we caution that such a construction is not reconcilable with the right of franchise,” she wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Public Interest Law Center, which brought the case on behalf of two voters, celebrated the ruling as a victory.
“Today’s decision affirms that if you make a paperwork mistake that will keep your mail ballot from counting, you have the right to vote by provisional ballot at your polling place on Election Day,” said Ben Geffen, senior attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. “This reinforces the right to vote in Pennsylvania.”
The case began in Butler County, which rejected provisional ballots cast by two voters whose mail ballots for the April primary had been rejected earlier for being returned without a secrecy envelope. Provisional ballots are used at polling places by voters whose eligibility is in question but who still want to vote. Those ballots are counted only after the voter’s eligibility is confirmed, including a check to make sure no mail ballot from that same voter has already been counted.
The ACLU and Public Interest Law Center sued the county, arguing it had misinterpreted a section of the state’s Election Code in considering the rejected mailed ballots as “cast.”
The groups lost at the county court level, but that decision was overturned by the state’s Commonwealth Court in September. Republican groups that intervened in the case appealed it to the state Supreme Court. The ruling from the state’s highest court means it will apply statewide, not just in Butler County.
Pennsylvania law requires voters to sign and date their ballot return envelopes, and to place the ballot in an inner secrecy envelope before being placed in the return envelope, in order for the ballot to be counted.
Thousands of ballots are rejected each election for these issues. During the April primary, counties rejected roughly 8,500 ballots, or 1.22% of those returned, for lacking a signature, date, or being returned without a secrecy envelope, according to an analysis of Pennsylvania Department of State data.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently declined to weigh the merits of the dating rule on an emergency basis, meaning it will likely remain in effect for at least the Nov. 5 election.
In a dissent joined by two other justices, Justice P. Kevin Brobson wrote that the state’s Election Code was “clear and unambiguous” that Butler County “not only lacked the authority to count Electors’ provisional ballots, [but] the Election Code expressly prohibited the Board from counting them.”
Neither Butler County Commissioner Kimberly Geyer nor Republican National Committee spokesperson Claire Zunk immediately responded to a request for comment.
The case is one of three major cases on mail ballots the high court could rule on before the election.
In another case from western Pennsylvania, the ACLU and the Public Interest Law Center sued Washington County over its policy of not notifying voters of errors with their mail ballots. That case is currently before the state Supreme Court, where a decision is pending.
Another case brought by the two groups deals with whether mail ballot return envelopes need to be dated in order for the ballot to be counted. The groups have brought several iterations of this case; the latest one began after a special election last month in Philadelphia for an open seat in the state House, when the groups sued the city on behalf of voters for not accepting improperly dated mail ballots cast in the race.
That case is awaiting a decision from the state’s Commonwealth Court, and could be appealed up to the state Supreme Court after that.
The US Constitution is clear. State legislatures set the rules, not the courts.
I predict just enough ballots rejected to get the democrats just enough extras to win the state.
Bad ruling. People who are too dumb to vote properly are too dumb to vote.
Just another avenue for vote fraud - “provisional” ballot means a second ballot for one person. Of course, count both votes IF they are for Democrats.
LOL! 0 chance of that occurring.
Attention PA voters. You must:
1. correctly sign your ballot
2. correctly date your ballot
3. use the secrecy envelope
If you are too stupid to follow these simple rules or your name is “Harris”, you will get another chance to correct your stupidity.
exactly, this seems like another opportunity to have the dems cheat as if they don’t already have enough ways to cheat.
Especially for idiot judges.
LOL! LIBS WILL DO ANYTHING TO CHEAT
Not this shit again.
Amen. Too stupid to follow THREE SIMPLE RULES and you should be barred from voting for life. We don’t want people that stupid voting.
We need to revert to requiring property ownership to vote. Real-estate ownership proves you are competent, have a stake in society, are old enough to be mature, and are not a leech on the rest of us.
Not a good ruling at all. This just opens the door wide for more shenanigans... This nation’s future is at stake because of bad judicial rulings lately.
Smells like some fraud hokey polkey..
If an alternative exists (provisional ballot), then the spoiled mail ballot can be voided immediately. It is up to the voter to rectify his/her error by voting in person.
No more late-night court pleas to count questionable ballots. No more poll workers "fixing" ballots days after the polls close.
How many people will take the time to revote?
And if they have to go to a polling place, how many will do that, mail in ballot can only be fixed by going to a polling place means not many will go through the hassle in my opinion
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
Here's the deal:
Until today's ruling there was no statewide standard of what to do about mailed ballots with errors.
Some counties contact the voters, notify them of the mistake, and allow them to come to the County office to "cure" their ballots.
Other counties don't even notify the voters.
Clearly there was an equal protection issue.
The steal was perfected in Pennsylvania in 2020. It’s no different in 2024. Shapiro will make sure of it. The ONLY chance is to early vote and overwhelm the possibility of cheating at the end. This goes for the other stop and steal states.
Simple solution: only vote on Election Day. Eliminates all this nonsense.
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