According to Spotlight PA, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has ordered counties to “refrain from counting” undated or misdated mail ballots in next week’s election, a high-profile decision that could invalidate at least thousands of otherwise acceptable ballots.
More litigation is possible, however.
The justices, down a member after the September death of Chief Justice Max Baer, deadlocked 3-3 on whether counting undated or misdated mail ballots violates federal civil rights law. And while they ordered county election officials not to count undated or misdated ballots, they also told them to segregate and retain those ballots.
That likely means the justices are leaving open the possibility that federal courts could rule differently and, after the election, order the segregated ballots to be counted.
The justices haven’t yet released the full reasoning behind their decisions in the case.
In their Tuesday order, they wrote that Democratic justices Debra Todd, Christine Donohue, and David Wecht think throwing out ballots based on the date requirement violates federal law, while Democrat Kevin Dougherty and Republicans Sallie Updyke Mundy and Kevin Brobson think it does not.
On Wednesday, the court issued the following statement:
“We are reviewing today’s order, but the order underscores the importance of the state’s consistent guidance that voters should carefully follow all instructions on their mail ballot and double-check it before returning it.
“Any voter who has already sent in their ballot and is concerned they might have made an error should check with their county elections board or call the Department of State’s year-round voter hotline at 1-877-VOTESPA."
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