{"id":2336253,"date":"2024-09-03T16:49:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T20:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted\/"},"modified":"2024-09-03T16:57:33","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T20:57:33","slug":"pa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted\/","title":{"rendered":"PA Court Rules Improperly Dated Mail Ballots Must Be Counted"},"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%2Fpa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted%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=2336253&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>On Friday, a Pennsylvania\u200c court ruled against \u2063the strict enforcement of mail-in ballot dating requirements, deeming them unconstitutional. \u2062The Commonwealth \u2062Court&#8217;s 4-1 decision favored left-leaning groups, including the ACLU and the Black \u2063Political Empowerment \u2063Project, \u200dand criticized \u2062the state&#8217;s 2019 Act 77, which mandated that mail ballots must be properly dated to be counted.\u2064 The ruling allows thousands of improperly dated ballots from previous elections to be \u2064counted in future voting, particularly important \u2064in Pennsylvania, \u200ca \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-losing-to-trump-in-states-expected-to-decide-2024-election-poll\/\" title=\"Poll: Trump leading Biden in key states for 2024 election.\">key \u200cswing state<\/a>. Judge Patricia A. McCullough dissented,\u2063 arguing that the majority abandoned established legal principles to favor voting access. The Republican National\u200d Committee plans to appeal \u2063the decision, highlighting concerns \u200cabout election integrity and potential fraud. The Secretary\u200b of State&#8217;s office celebrated the ruling as a victory for voting rights, asserting that minor errors in dating should not disenfranchise voters.  <\/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<p>A Pennsylvania court Friday sided with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/defending-the-rights-of-hoosier-girls-to-fair-competition-in-athletics\/\" title=\"Defending The Rights Of Hoosier Girls To Fair Competition In Athletics  \u00a0\">left-wing special interests<\/a>, blocking the state from enforcing part of a law that required mail ballots to be properly dated in order to be counted<\/p>\n<p>In a 4-1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pacourts.us\/assets\/opinions\/Commonwealth\/out\/283MD24_8-30-24.pdf?cb=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruling<\/a>, which saw President Judge Ren&eacute;e Cohn Jubelirer &mdash; elected as a <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Renee_Cohn_Jubelirer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Republican<\/a> &mdash; side with three elected Democrat judges, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania majority sided with the left-leaning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/american-civil-liberties-union-aclu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">American Civil Liberties Union<\/a> and the Black Political Empowerment Project, among others, declaring the &ldquo;strict enforcement&rdquo; of state law (Act 77) requiring election officials to reject improperly dated or undated mail-in ballots &ldquo;unconstitutional.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Calling the decision a &ldquo;wholesale abandonment of common sense&rdquo; made in an &ldquo;untethered and unprecedented fashion,&rdquo; Judge Patricia A. McCullough described in a scathing dissent how the court majority bent over backward to ensure Pennsylvania voters did not have to date their mail-in ballots:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&ldquo;[T]o reach its desired end, the Majority today (1) finds jurisdiction where it does not exist, (2) ignores more than a century of sound Pennsylvania Supreme Court precedent interpreting the Free and Equal Elections Clause, (3) applies strict scrutiny without any authority for doing so, (4) accepts Petitioners&rsquo; invitation to usurp the role of the General Assembly and re-write Act 77 of 2019 (Act 77), and, in a twist of tragic irony, (5) voids altogether absentee and mail-in voting in Pennsylvania.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Act 77 was passed in 2019 as part of Pennsylvania&rsquo;s mail-in voting law. State statute <a href=\"https:\/\/casetext.com\/statute\/pennsylvania-statutes\/statutes-unconsolidated\/title-25-ps-elections-electoral-districts\/chapter-14-election-code\/article-xiii-voting-by-qualified-absentee-electors\/section-31466-voting-by-absentee-electors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">includes<\/a> the requirement that &ldquo;an absentee &lsquo;elector shall. . .fill out, date and sign the declaration printed on&rsquo; the second, or outer, envelope &lsquo;on which is printed the form of declaration of the elector,&#8217;&rdquo; as cited in the majority opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Arguing that the date requirement is a simple standard that does not deny voters franchise, as the majority claimed, McCullough concluded, &ldquo;I must wonder whether walking into a polling place, signing your name, licking an envelope, or going to the mailbox can now withstand the Majority&rsquo;s newly minted standard.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania &mdash; which intervened in the case in favor of upholding the law &mdash; argued that the date requirement advanced state interest in &ldquo;preventing fraud,&rdquo; pointing to a 2022 incident where the use of the requirement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2024-06-10-rep-intervernors-memo-ISO-app-for-summ-relief.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unearthed<\/a> fraud committed by the daughter of a deceased Pennsylvanian.<\/p>\n<p>The majority opinion, however, while citing &ldquo;prior litigation,&rdquo; stated that &ldquo;the date on the outer mail-in ballot envelopes is not used to determine the timeliness of a ballot, a voter&rsquo;s qualifications\/eligibility to vote, or fraud. Therefore, the dating provisions serve no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opinion-people-of-faith-must-educate-themselves-on-the-supreme-court\/\" title=\"Opinion: People Of Faith Must Educate Themselves On The Supreme Court\">compelling government interest<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2024\/05\/24.05.38-Petition-for-Review.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a>, filed in part by the left-wing ACLU Pennsylvania on behalf of multiple other left-wing special interest groups earlier this year, roughly 10,000 people in Pennsylvania had their ballots rejected in the 2022 midterms because they were improperly dated &mdash; such &ldquo;errors&rdquo; which the ACLU <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/voting-rights-groups-respond-to-state-court-decision-in-pennsylvania-on-handwritten-date-requirements-for-mail-ballots\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">categorized<\/a> as &ldquo;trivial&rdquo; in a Friday press release applauding the court&rsquo;s decision.<\/p>\n<p>With Friday&rsquo;s ruling, thousands of improperly dated ballots may now be counted in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/pennsylvania\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pennsylvania<\/a>, a key swing state in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-rand-paul-offers-dr-rachel-levine-as-example-of-radical-agenda-riding-bidens-coattails\/\" title=\"Sen. Rand Paul Offers Dr. Rachel Levine As Example Of Radical Agenda Riding Biden\u2019s Coattails\">upcoming presidential election<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although the court &ldquo;decline[d] to strike Act 77 in its entirety as a consequence of [the] holding,&rdquo; according to the majority opinion, it ruled &ldquo;that strict enforcement of the dating provisions to reject timely submitted but undated or incorrectly dated absentee and mail-in ballots is unconstitutional&rdquo; and ruled to &ldquo;enjoin&rdquo; the &ldquo;strict enforcement&rdquo; of these provisions &ldquo;to prevent against further disenfranchisement.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is hereby DECLARED that the Election Code&rsquo;s dating provisions are invalid and unconstitutional as applied to qualified voters who timely submit undated or incorrectly dated absentee and mail-in ballots,&rdquo; the opinion reads.<\/p>\n<p>The RNC plans to appeal the decision, according to a statement from Election Integrity Communications Director Claire Zunk reportedly obtained by Votebeat Pennsylvania reporter Carter Walker, which <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByCarterWalker\/status\/1829599355277623543\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">notes<\/a> how both &ldquo;[t]he Pennsylvania Supreme Court and US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit have both upheld Pennsulvania&rsquo;s dated ballot requirement.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania passed universal mail-in voting in 2019, but the law required that voters &ldquo;fill out, date and sign the declaration printed on [the] envelope,&rdquo; as The Federalist previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/30\/court-stands-by-decision-rejecting-undated-pennsylvania-mail-ballots-in-blow-to-left-wing-activists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>. The law has been upheld amid parallel legal action against the date requirement in the federal courts as well.<\/p>\n<p>The Pennsylvania Secretary of State&rsquo;s Office, run by Republican Al Schmidt who was appointed by Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2023, posted to social media on Friday, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PAStateDept\/status\/1829594491973513668\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">saying<\/a>, &ldquo;Today&rsquo;s Commonwealth Court decision is a victory for the fundamental right to vote as guaranteed by our Constitution.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Multiple court cases have now confirmed that the dating of a mail-in ballot envelope, when election officials can already confirm it was sent and received within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvania-court-stops-incorrectly-dated-mail-in-votes-from-being-thrown-out-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Pennsylvania court stops incorrectly dated mail-in votes from being thrown out - Washington Examiner\">legal voting window<\/a>, provides no purpose to election administration,&rdquo; the statement continued. &ldquo;This ruling makes clear a voter&rsquo;s minor error of forgetting to date or misdating a ballot envelope cannot be a cause for disenfranchisement. Our Administration will always uphold Pennsylvanians&rsquo; right to vote and is pleased with today&rsquo;s ruling.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Secretary of State&rsquo;s office released this statement on social media despite Schmidt being named as a defendant in the <a href=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2024\/05\/24.05.38-Petition-for-Review.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> earlier this year. Schmidt, for his part, is also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/pennsylvania-election-security-task-force-rcna141024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">named<\/a> as head of the Pennsylvania Election Threats Task Force. Shapiro reportedly said this force will be activated to &ldquo;combat misinformation,&rdquo; according to NBC News, which they believe includes election integrity oversight, and protecting poll workers against threats.<\/p>\n<p>A similar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/voting\/election-threats\">federal task force<\/a> from the Biden administration was created in light of claims suggesting increased &ldquo;intimidation&rdquo; &ldquo;against election workers, administrators, officials, and others associated with the electoral process,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/blog\/justice-department-launches-task-force-combat-threats-against-election-workers-0\">according<\/a> to the Department of Justice, although many critics see this task force as a way to intimidate advocates of election integrity into silence.<\/p>\n<p>Schmidt was <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/wlOPX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">awarded<\/a> the Presidential Citizens Medal by Joe Biden at the White House in January of 2023 for opposing Trump&rsquo;s efforts to challenge the 2020 election in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Schmidt&rsquo;s office did not respond to The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment regarding the statement he made on Friday about the court&rsquo;s ruling.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Pennsylvania court ruled on Friday in favor of left-leaning special interest groups, preventing the state from enforcing a provision of a law that mandated proper dating for mail ballots to be counted. In a 4-1 decision, President Judge Ren\u00e9e Cohn Jubelirer, a Republican, joined three Democratic judges in supporting the American Civil Liberties Union and the Black Political Empowerment Project. They deemed the &#8220;strict enforcement&#8221; of state law (Act 77), which required election officials to reject improperly dated or undated mail-in ballots, as &#8220;unconstitutional.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Judge Patricia A. McCullough issued a strong dissent, criticizing the majority for what she called an irrational decision that disregarded established legal precedents and overstepped its authority by effectively nullifying absentee and mail-in voting in Pennsylvania. She argued that requiring voters to date their mail-in ballots is a reasonable standard that does not infringe on their voting rights.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Pennsylvania Republican Party intervened in support of upholding the law, citing concerns about potential fraud highlighted by past incidents where improperly dated ballots led to fraudulent activities being uncovered.<\/p>\n<p>Despite referencing previous legal cases, the majority opinion stated that dating on ballot envelopes does not impact ballot timeliness or voter eligibility; thus, it serves no significant government interest. The lawsuit initiated by ACLU Pennsylvania claimed around 10,000 ballots were rejected during the 2022 midterms due to improper dating\u2014errors described as &#8220;trivial&#8221; by ACLU representatives.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of this ruling, many previously rejected improperly dated ballots may now be counted in Pennsylvania\u2014a crucial swing state for upcoming presidential elections. While affirming Act 77&#8217;s validity overall, the court declared strict enforcement against undated or incorrectly dated absentee and mail-in ballots unconstitutional to prevent further disenfranchisement.<\/p>\n<p>The RNC plans to appeal this decision since both state and federal courts have upheld Pennsylvania&#8217;s requirement for dated ballots previously. Following this ruling, Al Schmidt\u2019s office\u2014the Secretary of State\u2019s Office\u2014celebrated it as an affirmation of voting rights while emphasizing that minor errors should not lead to disenfranchisement.<\/p>\n<p>Schmidt was named as part of ongoing litigation despite his office&#8217;s supportive statement regarding Friday&#8217;s ruling. He has also been involved with initiatives aimed at combating misinformation related to elections following increased scrutiny over election integrity issues post-2020 election challenges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2336254,"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\/07\/Ballot_with_ballot_box_in_Sonoma_California_-_November_2022_-_Sarah_Stierch_02.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[33740,33739,37707,40011,32570],"class_list":["post-2336253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-court-ruling","tag-election-law","tag-mail-ballots","tag-pa-court","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Ballot_with_ballot_box_in_Sonoma_California_-_November_2022_-_Sarah_Stierch_02.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336253","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\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2336254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}