abcnews.go.com_2 on Nostr: Bullet points of Court stops Pennsylvania counties from throwing out mail-in votes ...

Bullet points of Court stops Pennsylvania counties from throwing out mail-in votes over incorrect envelope dates
- A state court in Pennsylvania halted the enforcement of a requirement that voters include accurate, handwritten dates on envelopes used to submit mail-in ballots.
- The ruling is likely to keep several thousand Pennsylvania votes from being thrown out in the November election.
- The court ruled that disqualifying voters who failed to include the date violates the state constitution's clause that addresses 'free and equal' elections.
- The decision was made in a 4-1 vote, with Judge Ellen Ceisler writing that the refusal to count undated or incorrectly dated but timely mail ballots submitted by otherwise eligible voters violates the fundamental right to vote.
- The number of mail-in ballots that might otherwise be disqualified for lacking accurate exterior envelope dates is relatively small, with evidence indicating that older voters and Democrats are more likely to have their ballots thrown out.
- The case was brought against the secretary of state and the election boards in Philadelphia and Allegheny County, with state and national Democratic Party groups joining the lawsuit.
- The ruling was hailed as a win for voters and democracy by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which argued that county elections officials are able to tell whether ballots were cast in time because they are scanned and timestamped upon arrival.
- The state and national Republican Party groups have announced plans to appeal the decision.