Pa. court agrees to revive ballot dating lawsuit; RNC wants state Supreme Court to shut it down

A group of voter rights organizations has asked a Pennsylvania court to revive its lawsuit challenging Philadelphia and Allegheny counties’ disqualification of mail-in ballots that are returned to election officials on time, but without a handwritten date on the return envelope.

The 10 organizations, led by the Black Political Empowerment Project and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, asked Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler to allow them correct a procedural error that prompted the state’s highest court to throw out a ruling in their favor.

The state Supreme Court on Friday vacated the 4-1 Commonwealth Court decision that the dating requirement contained in Act 77, which expanded absentee voting, violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s guarantee of the right to vote.

The Supreme Court said Commonwealth Court lacked authority to hear the case without the inclusion of each of Pennsylvania’s county boards of elections. It also said that naming Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt was insufficient to give the court jurisdiction over the voting groups’ claims.



https://penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/pennsylvania-court-agrees-to-revive-ballot-dating-lawsuit-rnc-wants-state-supreme-court-to-shut-it-down/