August 30, 2024
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court today ruled in favor of the Black Political Empowerment Project and other nonpartisan community organizations in their case seeking to end the disqualification of mail-in ballots with trivial errors on the external envelopes.
The groups, represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, American Civil Liberties Union, Public Interest Law Center, and the law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, argued that disqualifying the ballots violated voters’ fundamental right to vote in free and equal elections as protected by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The following can be attributed to Brent Landau, executive director of the Public Interest Law Center:
“This decision has strengthened the right to vote in Pennsylvania. Mail ballots will no longer be rejected because of a meaningless requirement to fill out a date that isn’t used for anything. As the birthplace of modern democracy, Pennsylvania has a long tradition of free and equal elections, and today’s decision adds to that legacy.”
ACLU of Pennsylvania Executive Director Mike Lee made the following statement:
“Today’s decision is a win for voters and democracy. No one should lose their vote over a simple human error that has no relevance to whether or not the ballot was received on time. This decision preserves the votes of thousands of voters who make this mistake in every election, without undemocratic, punitive enforcement by the counties.”
Ari Savitzky, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, had this reaction:
“This ruling is a huge victory for Pennsylvania voters and for common sense. No one should lose their fundamental right to vote because of a meaningless paperwork mistake.”
A statewide coalition of 10 nonpartisan community organizations sued Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt and election officials in Philadelphia and Allegheny County in state court, demanding an end to the disqualification of mail-in ballots for inconsequential date errors on the declaration envelope.
The petitioners argued that this practice violates the fundamental right to vote in free and equal elections guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Click here for a copy of today’s filing
September 5, 2024
HARRISBURG, Pa. – A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled today that Butler County had no legal basis to disqualify the provisional ballots of two mail voters who forgot to include the secrecy envelope with their ballot return packets in the 2024 primary election. In a 2-1 decision, the court ordered the county to count the provisional ballots of Faith Genser and Frank Matis, the two county voters who brought a lawsuit against the Butler County board of elections after the board refused to count their provisional ballots.
Genser and Matis are represented by the Public Interest Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which responded to today’s ruling in a statement. The following can be attributed to Ben Geffen, senior attorney at the Public Interest Law Center:
“Today’s decision ensures that if you make a paperwork mistake that will keep your mail-in ballot from counting, you can fix the problem by going to your polling place on Election Day and filling out a provisional ballot. This is an important safety net that protects the right to vote for Pennsylvania citizens.”
The following can be attributed to Marian Schneider, senior policy counsel for voting rights at the ACLU of Pennsylvania:
“Provisional ballots were implemented more than 20 years ago for this very reason, to be sure that voters who want to participate in elections had their votes counted without human error getting in the way. This decision provides statewide clarity about this voting-rights issue, setting a precedent for all Pennsylvania counties. We’re going to keep working to be sure that voters’ ballots are counted without unnecessary barriers leading to them being disqualified.”
September 13, 2024
Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today vacated a ruling in favor of the Black Political Empowerment Project and other nonpartisan community organizations in their case seeking to end the disqualification of mail in ballots based on a common trivial error on the external envelopes.
The groups, represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, ACLU Voting Rights Project, Public Interest Law Center, and the law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, argued that to disqualify ballots with a missing or incorrect handwritten date on the envelope violated citizens’ fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that the lower court that issued the pro-voter ruling lacked jurisdiction, leaving open the possibility of further action in the state courts.
ACLU of Pa. Senior Supervising Attorney Steve Loney made the following statement:
“Today’s procedural ruling is a setback for Pennsylvania voters, but we will keep fighting for them. These eligible voters who got their ballots in on time should have their votes counted and voices heard. The fundamental right to vote is among the most precious rights we enjoy as Pennsylvanians, and it should take more than a trivial paperwork error to take it away.”
The following can be attributed to Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Public Interest Law Center:
“Thousands of voters are at risk of having their ballots rejected in November for making a meaningless mistake. We will keep fighting to keep that from happening. In the meantime, it’s more important than ever for every voter to carefully read and follow the instructions for submitting a mail-in ballot to reduce the number of ballots being rejected for trivial paperwork errors.”
ACLU Voting Rights Project Senior Staff Attorney Ari Savitzky made the following statement:
“This procedural ruling is a deeply unfortunate and unnecessary setback for voters, whose fundamental right to vote is at stake. It is time to end once and for all the practice of disenfranchising thousands of eligible voters based on a totally meaningless paperwork mistake. We will not stop fighting to make sure that all votes are counted.”
A statewide coalition of ten nonpartisan community organizations sued Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt and election officials in Philadelphia and Allegheny County in state court, demanding an end to the disqualification of mail-in ballots for inconsequential date errors on the declaration envelope. The petitioners argued that this practice violates the fundamental right to vote in free and equal elections guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
