{"id":2233948,"date":"2024-04-30T18:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T22:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-stands-by-decision-rejecting-undated-pennsylvania-mail-ballots-in-blow-to-left-wing-activists\/"},"modified":"2024-04-30T18:04:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T22:04:10","slug":"court-stands-by-decision-rejecting-undated-pennsylvania-mail-ballots-in-blow-to-left-wing-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-stands-by-decision-rejecting-undated-pennsylvania-mail-ballots-in-blow-to-left-wing-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Court upholds ruling against undated Pennsylvania mail-in ballots, disappointing left-wing activists"},"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\">22<\/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%2Fcourt-stands-by-decision-rejecting-undated-pennsylvania-mail-ballots-in-blow-to-left-wing-activists%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=2233948&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>The 3rd \u2064U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision \u2063to reject undated or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-upholds-pennsylvania-law-rejecting-undated-mail-ballots\/\" title=\"Pennsylvania Law Banning Undated Mail Ballots Upheld by Appeals Court\">incorrectly\u2062 dated mail-<\/a>in ballots during the 2020 election. Left-wing groups&#8217; attempt to challenge the ruling\u200d was denied, impacting \u200dDemocrat operative Marc Elias. The law requires ballots to be properly dated before submission, leading to invalidation of ballots with missing or wrong dates.\u200b The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the rejection of\u2063 undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots during the 2020 election. Left-wing groups&#8217; efforts\u2064 to\u2064 contest\u2064 the ruling were unsuccessful, affecting Democrat \u200doperative Marc Elias. The law mandates proper dating\u2062 of ballots before submission, resulting in the\u2062 disqualification of \u200dballots with missing or inaccurate dates.  <\/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<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an attempt from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-of-taxpayer-funded-antiracist-group-funneled-nearly-300k-to-husbands-law-firm\/\" title=\"President of Taxpayer-Funded Antiracist Group Funneled Nearly 0K to Husband\u2019s Law Firm\">left-wing organizations<\/a> to have the court reconsider a ruling that found unelected bureaucrats were wrong to accept thousands of undated or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-sues-pennsylvania-for-planning-to-illegally-accept-undated-mail-in-ballots\/\" title=\"RNC Sues Pennsylvania for Planning to Illegally Accept Undated Mail-in Ballots\">incorrectly dated ballots<\/a> during the 2020 election. <\/p>\n<p>A three-judge panel for the 3rd Circuit <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/28\/appeals-court-upholds-pennsylvania-law-rejecting-undated-mail-ballots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled in a 2-1 decision<\/a> in March that any mail-in ballots that arrive in envelopes missing a date or with an incorrect date are invalid, upholding a state law and <a href=\"https:\/\/prod-static.gop.com\/media\/documents\/PA_NAACP_v._Secy_CA3_Opinion_1711580579.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overturning<\/a> a lower court\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n<p>Several left-wing organizations appealed the ruling by petitioning the court to review the decision en banc, a petition which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2024-04-30-Order-dckt-.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">denied<\/a> on Tuesday. It\u2019s a big blow for Democrat operative and Russia hoaxer Marc Elias, whose group supported the lawsuit against the state law and which called it a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DemocracyDocket\/status\/1759942088764846113\">crucial<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/3rd-circuit-to-hear-critical-pennsylvania-mail-in-voting-case\/\">critical<\/a>\u201d case ahead of 2024.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\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. But thousands of ballots mailed in during the <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\">2020<\/a> presidential election and 2022 midterms \u201cdid not comply with the date requirement\u201d as they were either missing dates entirely or had incorrect dates, the 3rd Circuit panel ruled in March. <\/p>\n<p>Years earlier, a panel of judges for the court had ruled the date requirement was in violation of the Materiality Provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which stipulates a voter cannot be denied their right to vote due to a paperwork issue that is \u201cnot material in determining whether such individual is qualified.\u201d That decision was later vacated after the Supreme Court issued its 2022 decision in <em>Ritter v. Migliori. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The issue then ended up in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court where the judges <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/mail-in-pennsylvania-ballots-with-incorrect-dates-will-be-saved-not-counted-2022-11-02\/\">ruled<\/a> the ballots were invalid under state law and found they should not be counted. The court, however, was split as to whether tossing the ballots entirely would violate the Materiality Provision, so the judges directed county election boards to \u201csegregate and preserve\u201d those ballots \u2014 though they were still not to be counted. <\/p>\n<p>Left-wing groups filed a suit last year which resulted in 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\">ruling<\/a> that ballots with missing or incorrect dates <em>should<\/em> be counted so long as they are received by Election Day. Republican organizations, including the Republican National Committee, appealed the decision. The panel for the 3rd Circuit overturned Baxter\u2019s ruling, admitting that while their immediate reaction would be to find that a \u201cfailure to date a return envelope should not cause his ballot to be disqualified,\u201d their role was simply to determine when the Materiality Provision can be applied. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hold that the Materiality Provision only applies when the State is determining <em>who <\/em>may vote,\u201d Judge Thomas Ambra wrote. \u201cIn other words, its role stops at the door of the voting place. The 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<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-image data-amount=\"5\">\n<h2>Popular<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In March, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed left-wing groups&#8217; request for a review of a decision that deemed the acceptance of undated or inaccurately dated ballots during the 2020 election by unelected officials as incorrect. The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel in March upheld this stance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2233949,"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\/04\/5139407571_2ff6027ffa_k-e1714510646422.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2233948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/5139407571_2ff6027ffa_k-e1714510646422.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233948","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=2233948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2233949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2233948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2233948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2233948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}