A federal appeals court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, overturned a previous ruling, affirming that Pennsylvania voters must accurately write the date on the outside envelopes of their mail-in ballots, a requirement that does not violate civil rights laws.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a split decision, upheld the enforcement of the date requirement on return envelopes, which resulted in the invalidation of thousands of votes in the 2022 election.
Although this represents a small percentage of the state's electorate, the ruling has brought increased scrutiny to Pennsylvania's election procedures, especially with its Electoral College votes at stake in the upcoming presidential election.
The lower court had previously ruled in November that mail-in ballots should be counted even without the correct dates if they arrive on time. U.S.
District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter argued that the date on the envelope is irrelevant for determining whether a ballot was received on time or if a voter is qualified.
However, Judge Thomas Ambro, in the appeals court's opinion, stated that the section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act cited by the lower court does not apply to ballot-casting rules such as dates on envelopes but rather focuses on the process of determining a voter's eligibility to cast a ballot.
Ambro noted that the Pennsylvania General Assembly has made it mandatory for mail-in voters to date the declaration on the return envelope of their ballot to ensure their vote is counted, and failure to comply renders the ballot invalid under Pennsylvania law.
The ruling was criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania, which argued that the decision could disenfranchise thousands of voters over what it called a minor paperwork error. The ACLU is considering its options in response to the ruling.
On the other hand, state and national Republican groups supported the date requirement, with the Republican National Committee calling the decision a crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence.
The expansion of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania in 2019 has seen Democrats far more likely to vote by mail than Republicans.