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Mail-in voting was once a bipartisan issue in Pennsylvania. When the legislature voted to expand mail-in voting in 2018, it did so in a bipartisan manner. However, once Donald Trump made mail-in voting an enemy, Pennsylvania Republicans have been trying to get rid of it ever since.
One of the quirks of the Pennsylvania mail-in voting system is that the completed ballot is housed in an inner envelope, and the voter must complete, sign, and date an outer envelope.
For years, the question of whether or not misdated ballots should be counted has been an issue that has been litigated in the courts.
Thousands of ballots were discarded in 2024 due to misdating, and the issue disproportionately affects Democrats more than Republicans.
An appeals court has ruled that misdated ballots can’t be discarded in a new ruling on Tuesday.
“Because of the Commonwealth’s date requirement, an inadvertent typographical error or a flipped number or even a stray pen mark in the date field will remove the ballot contained within the return envelope from consideration. And the voter may never be the wiser,” wrote Judge D. Brooks Smith, a George W. Bush appointee, for a unanimous panel.
Brooks’ decision was joined by Biden appointee Arianna Freeman and Obama appointee Patty Schwartz. They concluded that the requirement to discard misdated or undated mail-in ballots violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments’ protections of the right to vote by creating impermissible burdens — with virtually no benefit to the state. In fact, they concluded, the date requirement was actually cumbersome for state officials to implement as well, with virtually no benefit in preventing fraud.
Voters who make a mistake when dating their ballot must be allowed to correct their ballot.
This ruling flies in the face of what Donald Trump proclaimed when he said that he wanted to ban mail-in voting.
The ruling is a major victory for Democrats in the swing state of Pennsylvania. It is also an important win for democracy, as voters should not be disenfranchised because of a silly and meaningless dating requirement on a ballot.
At a time when it can seem like democracy is under assault from all sides, victories are still happening, and wins like the one in Pennsylvania will ultimately serve as the building blocks to turn the current anti-democratic tide.
What do you think about the Pennsylvania ballots ruling? Share your thoughts in the comments below.