{"id":2208247,"date":"2024-03-28T12:12:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T16:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-upholds-pennsylvania-law-rejecting-undated-mail-ballots\/"},"modified":"2024-03-28T12:14:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T16:14:33","slug":"appeals-court-upholds-pennsylvania-law-rejecting-undated-mail-ballots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-upholds-pennsylvania-law-rejecting-undated-mail-ballots\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Law Banning Undated Mail Ballots Upheld by Appeals Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fappeals-court-upholds-pennsylvania-law-rejecting-undated-mail-ballots%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2208247&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A panel of Democrat-appointed judges upheld a Pennsylvania state law\u2063 invalidating undated or incorrectly\u2062 dated mail-in\u2062 ballots. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court\u200b of \u2062Appeals reversed\u2064 a\u200d lower court ruling,\u200d emphasizing election\u2062 integrity. Thousands \u200dof ballots were rejected in the 2022 midterms due to date \u200cdiscrepancies. \u200cThe Supreme Court&#8217;s\u2064 decision in Ritter\u200d v. Migliori influenced the final verdict. A group of judges appointed by Democrats\u200b upheld a Pennsylvania law that\u2063 deems\u200d mail-in ballots invalid\u2064 if they are undated or have incorrect dates. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous decision, highlighting the importance \u2062of election integrity. Numerous\u200b ballots were rejected \u200cin the 2022\u2063 midterms due\u200d to\u200c date\u2063 issues, with\u200d the Supreme Court&#8217;s Ritter v. Migliori case impacting the outcome.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Four years after bureaucrats tried to usurp the Pennsylvania legislature\u2019s authority by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesa.fm\/politics-government\/2020-11-18\/allegheny-judge-rules-2-349-mail-in-ballots-must-be-counted#stream\/0%C2%A0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">counting<\/a> ballots that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fulton-county-ga-elections-board-director-fired\/\" title=\"Fulton County, Ga. elections board director fired\">violated state law<\/a>, a panel of Democrat-appointed judges upheld a state law that says such ballots are invalid. <\/p>\n<p>The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Wednesday that mail-in ballots that arrive in envelopes with a missing or incorrect date are not valid, overturning a lower court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence in the Keystone State and nationwide,\u201d Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/gop.com\/press-release\/rnc-statement-on-pennsylvania-lawsuit-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>. \u201cPennsylvanians deserve to feel confident in the security of their mail ballots, and this 3rd Circuit ruling roundly rejects unlawful left-wing attempts to count undated or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-wins-big-in-crucial-pennsylvania-mail-voting-lawsuit\/\" title=\"Republican Party Scores Significant Victory in Key Pennsylvania Mail Voting Case\">incorrectly dated mail ballots<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania adopted universal mail-in balloting in 2019, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-rules-for-republicans-in-voter-id-dispute\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Rules For Republicans In Voter ID Dispute\">law requiring voters<\/a> to \u201cfill out, date and sign the declaration printed on [the] envelope\u201d before returning their ballot. <\/p>\n<p>During the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterms, \u201cthousands\u201d of voters\u2019 mail-in ballots \u201cdid not comply with the date requirement,\u201d either due to incorrect dates or missing dates entirely, according to the ruling. Approximately 10,000 such ballots were rejected during the 2022 midterms.<\/p>\n<p>A panel of judges on the 3rd Circuit had previously ruled the date requirement violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act Materiality Provision, which says voters cannot be denied their right to vote because of a paperwork issue if it is \u201cnot material in determining whether such individual is qualified\u201d to vote. But the U.S. Supreme Court vacated that decision as moot in its 2022 decision in <em>Ritter v. Migliori. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Pennsylvania Supreme Court then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/mail-in-pennsylvania-ballots-with-incorrect-dates-will-be-saved-not-counted-2022-11-02\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a> ballots that don\u2019t comply with the date requirement are invalid under state law and should not be counted \u2014 but the court was split on whether tossing those ballots violated the Materiality Provision, so it directed county election boards to \u201csegregate and preserve\u201d those ballots even though they were not to be counted.<\/p>\n<p>A year later, in response to a lawsuit brought by leftist groups, Erie-based U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter <a href=\"https:\/\/penncapital-star.com\/voting\/federal-judge-rules-mail-in-ballots-returned-on-time-with-wrong-or-missing-dates-must-be-counted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a> in November that ballots with missing or incorrect dates <em>should<\/em> still be counted so long as they are received by Election Day. The RNC and its affiliates appealed the ruling.  <\/p>\n<p>In its decision on Wednesday, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the state law requiring ballots to be properly dated does not violate the federal Materiality Provision, overturning the district judge\u2019s decision. The panel acknowledged their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-this-will-decimate-policing-as-we-know-it-detroit-police-chief-tears-into-george-floyd-justice-in-policing-act\/\" title=\"WATCH: \u2018This Will Decimate Policing As We Know It\u2019: Detroit Police Chief Tears Into George Floyd Justice In Policing Act\">knee-jerk reaction<\/a> would be to find a \u201cfailure to date a return envelope should not cause his ballot to be disqualified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut our role restricts to interpreting a statute, and there we hold that the Materiality Provision only applies when the State is determining <em>who <\/em>may vote,\u201d wrote Judge Thomas Ambra, a Clinton appointee. \u201cIn other words, its role stops at the door of the voting place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe provision does not apply to rules, like the date requirement, that govern <em>how <\/em>a qualified voter must cast his ballot for it to be counted,\u201d the court said, but rather only applies to laws determining <em>who<\/em> can cast a ballot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPennsylvania\u2019s date requirement, regardless what\u00a0we may think of it, does not cross over to a determination of\u00a0<em>who\u00a0<\/em>is qualified to vote,\u201d the majority concluded.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>   Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a controversy four years ago, a panel of Democratic-appointed judges recently upheld a Pennsylvania state law invalidating ballots that fail to meet legal requirements. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1, affirming that mail-in ballots with missing or inaccurate information cannot be counted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2208248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/14829998574_ea95a33cb9_k-e1711636164212.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2208247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/14829998574_ea95a33cb9_k-e1711636164212.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2208247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2208248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2208247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2208247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2208247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}