Philadelphia County elections staff will process mail-in ballots on Election Day.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
in new judgment The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday directed all county election officials in the state not to count mail-in ballots for this year’s general election that arrived on time and were in undated envelopes handwritten by voters. did.
The order is Request from the Republican National Committee Pennsylvania’s decision comes after a long legal battle over what happens when absentee voters don’t follow the state’s election rules, which has led to a tangle of lawsuits since Pennsylvania began allowing no-excuse voting by mail in 2020. The Republicans won. .
Some local election officials have decided to include so-called “undated” or incorrectly dated ballots in the official tally, despite similar orders from state high courts leading up to Election Day. did.
State law requires a handwritten date on the outer return envelope, but a state court has yet to decide whether rejecting a ballot for missing a ballot violates the Pennsylvania Constitution. It is a problem to be solved.
The RNC and David McCormick, the Republican declared the winner of the Pennsylvania Senate race by the Associated Press, filed two lawsuits last week against county officials who counted undated or incorrectly dated ballots. woke up.
“There is no better excuse,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a post on X after the court’s ruling. “Election officials in Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia and other counties have absolutely no choice.”
The ruling comes after Pennsylvania’s top elections official ordered an automatic statewide recount for the close U.S. Senate race. According to the paper, McCormick currently leads Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by more than 17,000 votes. Latest unofficial returns Compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of State.
The final results of the recount are expected to be announced on November 27th.
editor benjamin swayzey
