October 30, 2024
Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court today ruled that disqualifying a timely vote due to a missing or incorrect handwritten date on the mail ballot return envelope is unconstitutional.
In the case, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, national ACLU, and Public Interest Law Center argued on behalf of two voters that they, and dozens of other eligible registered voters, were unconstitutionally disenfranchised due to inconsequential errors on the date line of their mail ballot envelopes in the September 17 special elections for two Pa. House seats.
The ballots of those voters had been submitted and received on time, but still not counted, in what the groups argued was a violation of the free and equal elections clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court agreed, in an appeal brought by the Philadelphia Board of Elections, the Republican National Committee, and the Pennsylvania Republican Party. The RNC and the state GOP joined the case as intervenors.
“Pennsylvania voters cannot be disenfranchised for trivial reasons,” said Stephen Loney, senior supervising attorney of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The dates written on return envelopes are completely meaningless, and everyone agrees that these ballots are from eligible voters and were timely received. Disqualifying voters for minor errors is a violation of the state constitution, which errs on the side of the voter.”
“This decision upholds the fundamental right to vote of Pennsylvanians,” said Ari Savitzky, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “Refusing to count someone’s vote because of a meaningless paperwork mistake is contrary to common sense and basic American values.”
Since the start of mail voting for all eligible voters in Pennsylvania in 2020, thousands of Pennsylvanians in every election have had their timely received ballots disqualified due to a missing or incorrect handwritten date. In the 2024 general election, that number could be in the tens of thousands.
“We applaud the Commonwealth Court for its ruling recognizing the rights of voters, and we hope that every county will abide by this ruling in its processing of mail ballots next month,” said Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Public Interest Law Center. “Because today’s decision may not be the last word on this issue, we still advise voters to date their return envelope, take any opportunity they have to cure mistakes, or vote provisionally on election day if they made a mistake on the envelope date.”
Court Documents:
