Pennsylvania judge rules that undated mail-in ballots must be counted
Brady Knox
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A Pennsylvania judge ruled that undated mail-in ballots that arrive on time in the state should be counted.
U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter made the ruling on Tuesday. It is expected to be appealed to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before reaching the high court, according to Politics PA.
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“The Court has concluded that the Commonwealth’s mandatory application of its Date Requirement violates the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act,” Baxter wrote. “Since the Court is confident that the Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment should be granted on that basis, there is no need to reach their constitutional claim (and) the Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim will be dismissed.”
If it holds, Baxter’s decision will prove critical for the 2024 presidential election and could affect who takes the key battleground state.
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The plaintiffs include the Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP and the Democratic Party’s campaign committees for U.S. House and Senate candidates. They argue that not counting undated ballots would violate the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits denying the right to vote “because of an error or omission” in any “application, registration, or other act requisite to voting if such error or omission is not material in determining” qualification to vote.
Democratic voters are the primary users of mail-in voting, leading to Republican skepticism of the practice, particularly during the 2020 presidential election when concern over the practice became the center of claims of voter fraud.