In a significant legal ruling that could swing the presidential election, a Pennsylvania court has ruled 4-1 that rejecting mail-in ballots due to minor errors, such as undated or incorrectly dated envelopes, violates the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The court’s decision, delivered by Judge Ellen Ceisler, was in response to a lawsuit filed three months ago by left-leaning groups challenging the state’s practice of disqualifying timely mail ballots over trivial paperwork mistakes.
The Associated Press writes:
In a decision handed down as the state is being hotly contested in the presidential contest, Commonwealth Court ruled 4-1 that disqualifying voters who failed to include the date violates the state constitution’s clause that addresses “free and equal” elections.
“The refusal to count undated or incorrectly dated but timely mail ballots submitted by otherwise eligible voters because of meaningless and inconsequential paperwork errors violates the fundamental right to vote” in the Pennsylvania Constitution, wrote Judge Ellen Ceisler in the majority opinion, siding with the left-leaning groups that sued three months ago.
The number of mail-in ballots that might otherwise be disqualified for lacking accurate exterior envelope dates is comparatively small in a state where more than 6 million votes will be cast this fall, perhaps exceeding 10,000.
Evidence in litigation surrounding the requirement has indicated older voters have been more likely to have their ballots thrown out for lack of an accurate handwritten date. Far more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail in Pennsylvania.
Judge Patricia McCullough, the lone dissenter, criticized the majority’s decision as a departure from long-standing legal precedents. She argued that the ruling effectively rewrites the 2019 state law that expanded mail-in voting, suggesting it could lead to a broader erosion of electoral safeguards. “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’s newly minted standard,” McCullough wrote.
The lawsuit, backed by several Democratic Party groups, was directed against the Pennsylvania Secretary of State and the election boards of Philadelphia and Allegheny County. Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, celebrated the ruling on social media, calling it “a victory for Pennsylvanians’ fundamental right to vote.”
The ruling could have significant implications for future elections in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state. In 2020, a majority of mail-in ballots were cast by Democratic voters, with 58% of President Joe Biden’s supporters voting by mail, compared to just 32% of Trump voters, according to Pew Research.
After all the communist democrat party has pretty well destroyed the Pennsylvania economy. Why not give them an opportunity to destroy it even further. Keep trying the same thing over and over isn’t that the definition of insanity. Pennsylvania is so busy trying to teach Trump a lesson they are letting the CDP kill their economy more. Yes there are a lot of errors being made but you get that when they are busy forging a lot of fraudulent ballots.
I am sure all of the Trump ballots without proper procedure will be tossed….but not the D’s…..they overlook those, of course.