Voting rights groups in Pa. are suing to allow undated ballots be counted. They hope to win before November’s election

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania voting rights groups are once again seeking to overturn a state law that bars undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots from being counted.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Public Interest Law Center filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania Commonwealth court Tuesday on behalf of eight voting rights and civil rights organizations. The suit, which was filed against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt and election officials in Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, argues that the disqualification of undated ballots violates the Pennsylvania Constitution, which guarantees a right to vote in free and equal elections.

“Pennsylvania should be making it easier to vote, not more difficult,” Mike Lee, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania,” said in a news release. “This arbitrary handwritten date requirement has already disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters in the commonwealth. With such high stakes in the 2024 election, Pennsylvania counties must do everything they can to ensure that every vote is counted.”

Schmidt’s office and the Philadelphia County Election board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Allegheny County said in a statement that the county, like all others in Pennsylvania, are bound by a 2022 state Supreme Court decision that said ballots must be dated by the voter in order to be counted.

“Allegheny County is committed to ensuring voters have the information they need to properly complete their ballots and has consistently had a robust cure process so that voters can correct inadvertent errors such as having an incomplete date or signature on the ballot return envelope,” county spokesperson Abigail Gardner said.

The filing comes as another lawsuit arguing the policy violates the federal voting rights act is working its way through federal courts.

Under Pennsylvania law, a mail ballot must be dated by a voter in order to be counted. Ahead of the primary election in April, officials sought to minimize the number of ballots rejected by redesigning ballot envelopes in an attempt to make the date and signature spaces more clear.

But voters continued to make errors on their ballots, invalidating them. In Philadelphia, for example, more than 400 ballots were rejected because they were not dated or were incorrectly dated.

Statewide, nearly 8,000 ballots were rejected for issues with the date, signature or privacy envelope in April. Looking ahead to November’s election, decisions to count or not count those ballots could have a major impact on competitive races and the perception of Pennsylvania’s elections during November’s critical presidential and Senate races.

Rejection of the ballots, the lawsuit argued, disproportionately disenfranchises senior citizens, who have been more likely to submit erroneous ballots in recent years.

The ACLU and the law center are asking the court to find the rule unconstitutional, a decision that would allow undated and incorrectly dated ballots to be counted in November if a ruling is issued by then.

The lawsuit describes the date rule as “inconsequential paperwork,” and advocates argue it is irrelevant because voters cannot cast a mail ballot until after counties send them out and ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

“The county knows that my ballot was received on time, and I don’t know why the date is necessary,” Joe Sommar, a Chester County voter who submitted a declaration in support of the suit, said in the news release. “It seems like an arbitrary thing, just another step to allow people to mess up and have their votes not counted.”

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