PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that county boards of elections are ordered to not count absentee and mail-in ballots for next Tuesday’s 2022 general midterm election if they lack accurate, handwritten dates on their return envelope.
The court said election boards need to separate and preserve those ballots as well.
Justices were split 3-3 on whether counting those ballots violates the law.
The decision came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 11 vacated a lower federal court ruling that decided not counting ballots because of a missing date was a violation of federal voting rights laws.
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Republicans argue state law clearly says voters must put a date on the ballot envelope or it won’t be counted, but opponents say the ballots must be returned by a set deadline, so the date on the envelope is meaningless.
Pennsylvania counties have reported receiving more than 850,000 completed mail-in ballots from the roughly 1.4 million that voters have requested. About 70% of requests have come from Democrats and about 20% from Republicans.