Pennsylvania Undated and Wrongly Dated Mail-in Ballots Challenge (New PA Project Education Fund)

Petition filed by the New PA Project Education Fund, NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference, Black Political Empowerment Project and other civic organizations against Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt (R) and all 67 county board of elections challenging the the state’s plan to not count mail-in ballots submitted with undated or wrongly dated outer envelopes. The petitioners claim that since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in a similar case (which directed the state’s counties not to count ballots with an incorrect or missing date), two federal courts and one state court have determined that the date written by the voter on a mail-in ballot envelope serves no purpose because “it plays no role in establishing a ballot’s timeliness or voter eligibility and is not used to prevent fraud.” They allege that the state’s rejection of undated and wrongly dated mail-in ballots violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Free and Equal Elections Clause and ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to prohibit all counties from setting aside and not counting mail-in and absentee ballots based on a missing or incorrect date. 

The petition was filed before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Sept. 25, 2024.

STATUS: On Oct. 5, 2024, the state Supreme court denied the petition. Counties must continue rejecting undated and wrongly dated mail-in ballots.

On Nov. 13, the Republican petitioners asked the court to enforce its Oct. 5 order, alleging certain counties are counting undated or misdated mail-in ballots following the Nov. 5 general election.

Last updated: November 13, 2024 5:24 pm EST