Unsurprisingly, election integrity has taken center stage in the 2024 election after some questioned how ballots were handled in the 2022 and 2020 midterms. Readers may recall that the U.S. Supreme Court last ruled on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s absentee voting rules in 2022.
Related reading: Supreme Court overturns controversial mail-in voting decision by lower courts in Pennsylvania
In September, I pointed to this decision in a story about new litigation over mail-in ballots, this time over incomplete or misdated envelopes:
In the end, the courts rejected these revised laws, and now we have news that the state Supreme Court has won a massive victory for election integrity on mail-in ballots.
This is a HUGE win that will have major implications for the key swing state in 2024.
The PA Supreme Court has a 5-2 liberal majority.
Yet they just ruled 4-3 that it is illegal to count misdated letters on ballots, overturning rulings by liberal lower courts. https://t.co/02PzMaWMRV pic.twitter.com/YHgGUpQvFH
– Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 13, 2024
The post reads:
This is a HUGE win that will have major implications for the key swing state in 2024.
The PA Supreme Court has a 5-2 liberal majority.
Yet they just ruled 4-3 that it is illegal to count misdated letters on ballots, overturning rulings by liberal lower courts.
Breaking: Pennsylvania court rules on massive election integrity victory over mail-in ballots
The case, filed by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Keystone State Republican Party on behalf of the Board of Elections, was a tremendous victory for fair elections.
But the case took two steps back this week when an appeals court changed course. Information in a 3-2 ruling Wednesday that the ballots must be accepted:
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A divided Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Wednesday that the envelopes voters employ to send mail-in ballots do not have to be accurately hand-dated, after the state Supreme Court bypassed the issue and six days earlier that End of voting in the presidential election.
The 3-2 Commonwealth Court decision upheld a Philadelphia judge’s ruling that 69 mail-in ballots should be counted in two special House elections in September.
….
Justice Ellen Ceisler’s majority opinion said that envelope dating rules “limit the right to have one’s vote counted in the special election only to those voters who correctly handwritten the date on their mail-in ballots, and the right effectively to everyone.” denied other qualified voters who sought the right to vote by mail in a timely manner, but made minor errors or omissions.”
Republicans immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court. And on Friday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the appeals court’s decision:
🚨
Big win for Pennsylvania GOP and election integrity:
A few days ago, three Democratic judges on the Pennsylvania Court of Appeals — in a 3-2 decision — struck down (again) the date requirement for mail-in ballots.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court simply reversed that ruling and… pic.twitter.com/X8wzCpePUZ
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) November 1, 2024
The post continued:
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court just overturned that ruling and reinstated the date requirement.
That makes it harder for Democrats to cheat.
Trump’s legal team wins crucial cases across America.
above the AP:
….[T]Republicans secured victory in a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision. This court rejected a final attempt by voting rights activists to ensure that mail-in ballots that do not have an exact, handwritten date on the outer envelope will still be counted in this year’s presidential election.
….
As of Thursday, about 9,000 of the more than 1.6 million returned ballots had arrived at election offices across Pennsylvania with no secret envelope, no signature or a handwritten date, according to state records.
The full opinion can be found here Here.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley released a statement on the court ruling:
“This is another huge victory for election integrity and voters in Pennsylvania. For the fifth time, we successfully defended the state’s requirement for dated ballots. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld the law, and the dated ballot requirement will be in effect for this election. Democrats. “We have tried repeatedly to remove these crucial election protections and we have stopped them every time. We are committed to protecting crucial election protections to ensure every ballot is properly cast and counted, and will continue to fight to protect the vote across Pennsylvania.
As Mike Davis of the Article III Project, the “support[s] Constitutional judges, fight radical attacks on the independence of the judiciary” and “fight[s] Lawfare and for Election Integrity,” reads the group’s Keep it up!
This is a developing story and RedState will provide updates as necessary.
Read more: Mail-in ballot requests in Pennsylvania still heavily favor Democrats – voter turnout will be crucial
