Election boards in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties cannot reject mail-in ballots solely because of missing or inaccurate handwritten dates on their outer return envelopes, a federal judge determined on Monday.
This ruling, the latest development in a prolonged legal battle over a minor percentage of the state’s votes, was issued by U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter over two months after the state Supreme Court agreed to consider the issue.
Judge Baxter noted that most counties did not claim that the dating of the exterior envelopes, which does not determine if a ballot was received on time, serves a crucial purpose in election regulation. However, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Berks County maintained that the dates were essential for preventing voting fraud.
“But there is no evidence in the record proving how this requirement supports that alleged interest,” Baxter wrote. She concluded that mandating the exterior envelope date breaches the U.S. Constitution, violating the First and Fourteenth amendments by hindering the right to vote.
The RNC, through its spokesperson Abigail Jackson, announced its plans to appeal the judge’s decision, while Jeff Bukowski, attorney for Berks County, also indicated he would discuss the possibility of an appeal with the county commissioners. Jackson characterized the signature requirement on the external envelope as a sensible measure.
The lawsuit, brought forth by a voter and several groups, including Democratic campaign organizations and a teachers’ union, described the requirement for envelope dates as nothing more than a ‘compliance test’ designed to evaluate whether state voters can follow written instructions, Baxter stated.
She ruled out any state interest in upholding the signature requirement and highlighted that more than 10,000 votes across the state were tossed out because of the dating mandate in the 2022 election. “Such disenfranchisement burdens the right to vote, without any legitimate state interest to balance against it,” Baxter stated.
A previous decision by Baxter dismissing the envelope date requirement in a different case was later overturned by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, although it based its decision on an alternate issue.
Lower courts have frequently determined the rejection of such ballots unconstitutional or illegal, but higher courts — most recently the state Supreme Court on November 1 — have blocked the enforcement of those rulings. New envelope designs have contributed to a reduction in the number of invalidated ballots.