Pennsylvania Supreme Court Blocks Counting of Undated Mail-in Ballots

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Facts

  • The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday ruled, in a suit filed by the Republican National Committee and the state GOP, that counties must stop counting mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect dates on their outer envelopes — specifically directing Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties to comply.[1][2]
  • This comes as Republican Dave McCormick leads Democratic US Sen. Bob Casey by 17,408 votes with 99.7% of votes counted and 24K ballots remaining. The Associated Press has called the election for McCormick, but an automatic recount has been triggered due to the margin being less than 0.5 percent.[1][3]
  • Previously, officials in several Democratic-led counties — including Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks — voted to count undated ballots despite court rulings prohibiting the practice.[4][5]
  • The state Supreme Court's ruling was decided by a 4-3 vote, despite Democrats holding a 5-2 majority on the court. Three Democratic justices dissented on the grounds that court intervention was premature.[4]
  • Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in a statement expressed his support for the court's decision, stating that any suggestion that laws can be ignored 'does damage to faith in our electoral process.'[6]
  • The recount process must be completed by noon on Nov. 26, with multiple counties now required to exclude ballots that fail to comply with the Pennsylvania Election Code requirements.[1][2]

Sources: [1]NBC, [2]Pennsylvania Capital, [3]CBS, [4]Guardian, [5]Votebeat and [6]FOX News.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by Federalist and New York Post. This is a crucial victory for election integrity and proper adherence to state law. Democratic county officials attempting to count illegal ballots were deliberately violating clear court precedent and election code requirements because of a result they didn't like. This ensures that only properly completed ballots will be counted.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by The New Republic and Slate. The date requirement on mail-in ballot envelopes serves no material purpose and is just another form of Republican voter suppression. The technical requirement does not indicate voter ineligibility or ballot illegitimacy — throwing out these votes over minor clerical errors undermines democratic participation.