The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yesterday that mail-in ballots that are not dated properly could be thrown out.
The state’s high court said that the ruling was made on procedural grounds. Two weeks ago, a commonwealth court halted enforcement of the dating requirement, but the higher court said that the case should not have been taken up as it did not involve the election boards in all 67 Pennsylvania Counties. The cases were filed in only Allegheny and Philadelphia Counties.
The ruling was 4-3 with two Democrat justices joining both Republican judges in vacating the Commonwealth Court decision. The dissenting opinion, written by Justice David Wecht, said that the high court should have taken on the matter, and that the three dissenters would have ruled on the matter based on written briefs.
Voters are urged to read mail-in ballot directions carefully to make sure things are properly handled to reduce the number of mail-in ballots that are thrown out.
