{"id":2363044,"date":"2024-11-01T22:36:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-02T02:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvania-supreme-court-sides-with-republicans-on-undated-ballots-for-now-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-11-01T22:38:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-02T02:38:28","slug":"pennsylvania-supreme-court-sides-with-republicans-on-undated-ballots-for-now-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvania-supreme-court-sides-with-republicans-on-undated-ballots-for-now-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Supreme Court sides with Republicans on undated ballots, for now &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/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%2Fpennsylvania-supreme-court-sides-with-republicans-on-undated-ballots-for-now-washington-examiner%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=2363044&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 Pennsylvania Supreme Court has temporarily sided with Republicans by granting \u200can emergency request to pause a \u200blower court ruling that allowed\u2064 mail-in ballots without dates to be counted. This\u200c decision comes just \u200cdays before the upcoming election and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">leaves unresolved \u2064issues surrounding undated ballots<\/a>. The lower\u200c court had ruled that votes without dates\u2064 on the envelopes should still be counted, raising\u2064 concerns from the \u2063Republican National Committee (RNC), which argued this could create chaos in the 2024\u200b general election.<\/p>\n<p>While the RNC insisted that state law \u200cprohibited counting undated ballots, both the RNC and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)\u2062 agreed a definitive ruling\u200c from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court \u200bwas necessary. However, they differed on the\u200c issue itself; the DNC and the American Civil Liberties Union \u200b(ACLU) believed that\u200c undated ballots should be counted, criticizing the rejection of such ballots\u200d as a disenfranchisement of voters.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/netanyahu-defies-biden-announces-major-west-bank-move\/\" title=\"Netanyahu challenges Biden, reveals significant West Bank decision.\">situation remains complex<\/a>, as legal challenges regarding undated\u2062 ballots are \u2064expected\u200d to\u2064 continue. Republicans portrayed \u2063the\u200c court&#8217;s order as a victory, emphasizing that no\u2064 county \u2062should <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\">accept undated mail-<\/a>in\u200c ballots, which\u2064 are more frequently used\u200c by Democratic voters in\u200d Pennsylvania.\u200c As \u2062a result, the ongoing\u200b legal uncertainties around undated ballots will likely \u2063impact the electoral process in the \u200dstate.  <\/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<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Pennsylvania Supreme Court sides with Republicans on undated ballots, for now<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1870892\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pennsylvania\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pennsylvania<\/a>&nbsp;Supreme Court granted on Friday an emergency request from Republicans to pause a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-alito-moves-up-deadline-for-supreme-court-briefing-in-pennsylvania-lawsuit-to-flip-the-election\/\" title=\"Justice Alito Moves Up Deadline For Supreme Court Briefing in Pennsylvania Lawsuit to Flip the Election\">lower court&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s ruling that mail-in ballots with missing dates should still be counted, a move that leaves longstanding questions about undated ballots unresolved days before the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2024-elections\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">election<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>In addition to the eleventh-hour stay, Republicans had also pleaded with the state&rsquo;s highest court to take a conclusive position on the undated ballots, but the justices&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/786936073\/Order-granting-relief-in-PA?secret_password=cNAOqlwqWNyt9P57ZUl6\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">declined<\/a>&nbsp;to go that far. In an unusual move, Democrats agreed with Republicans that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court should take a stance.<\/p>\n<p>The emergency pause came after Pennsylvania&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/illinois-loses-appeal-of-halted-gun-control-law\/\" title=\"Illinois Loses Appeal of Halted Gun Control Law\">appellate court decided<\/a> that people who neglect to fill in the date on the outer envelope of their mail-in ballot will still have their vote count.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3210762\/supreme-court-rejects-republican-bid-block-pennsylvania-provisional-ballots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"SUPREME COURT REJECTS REPUBLICAN BID TO BLOCK SOME PENNSYLVANIA PROVISIONAL BALLOTS\"><strong>SUPREME COURT REJECTS REPUBLICAN BID TO BLOCK SOME PENNSYLVANIA PROVISIONAL BALLOTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The appellate court said the decision applied to 69 undated ballots from a Philadelphia special election that took place earlier this year, but the Republican National Committee argued in court papers that the decision would &ldquo;unleash chaos&rdquo; in the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n<p>The RNC said state law made clear that undated mail-in ballots should not be counted and that the appellate court undermined that, effectively causing confusion for other counties outside of Philadelphia right before Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic National Committee agreed with the RNC that Pennsylvania counties needed the state&rsquo;s highest court to step in and take a clear position on undated ballots. But in contrast to Republicans, the DNC, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, said they believed undated mail-in ballots should count.<\/p>\n<p>The ACLU called handwritten dates on ballot envelopes &ldquo;utterly meaningless.&rdquo; Mail-in ballots that arrive after polls close are not counted in Pennsylvania regardless of what the handwritten dates on the envelopes say. The ACLU said counties that reject ballots because of missing dates are disenfranchising voters on a &ldquo;flimsy basis.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>An appeal in the Philadelphia case could land back in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and with the current lack of clarity from the state&rsquo;s top court, legal fights over undated ballots are guaranteed to persist in the Keystone State.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans still billed the order on Friday as a win, asserting that it meant that no county should count undated mail-in ballots. Democrats vote far more frequently by mail than Republicans in Pennsylvania, so rejecting undated mail-in ballots would likely hurt Democratic candidates more.<\/p>\n<p>The RNC said in a statement that the order was one of three recent legal successes for the GOP in Pennsylvania, a swing state that both Republicans and Democrats view as a must-win for the presidential race.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/live-blog\/2024-election-campaign-live-updates-harris-trump\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have secured three major victories for election integrity in Pennsylvania just this week: we won extended early voting in Bucks County; we won signature verification and observer access in Erie County; and we won &mdash; for the fifth time &mdash; the dated ballot case in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court,&rdquo; spokeswoman Claire Zunk said.<\/p>\n<p>Article III Project founder Mike Davis, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, also celebrated the state&rsquo;s emergency pause,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mrddmia\/status\/1852483113156268189\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saying<\/a>&nbsp;on X that it &ldquo;puts the date requirement back into effect&rdquo; and &ldquo;makes it harder for Democrats to cheat.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1870892\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1870892\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pennsylvania Supreme Court temporarily favors Republicans on undated ballots<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2363045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mail-voting-scaled-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5836,3756,32275],"class_list":["post-2363044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-pennsylvania","tag-republicans","tag-supreme-court"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mail-voting-scaled-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363044","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\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2363044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2363045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2363044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2363044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2363044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}