Voting rights groups appeal ruling that directs Pa. to reject undated mail ballots – By Carter Walker (Votebeat) / April 11, 2024
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting.
After a court defeat, Pennsylvania voting rights organizations are trying to convince a larger group of federal appellate judges that the state shouldn’t be allowed to reject mail ballots that lack a proper date on their return envelopes.
The plaintiffs, led by the NAACP, are appealing a March 27 ruling from a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and are seeking an opinion from the full court. A favorable outcome for the NAACP could prevent thousands of mail ballots from going uncounted this November, but it would not happen in time for the April 23 primary, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said.
The panel’s 2-1 ruling found that a Pennsylvania law requiring mail voters to handwrite a date on the return envelope did not violate a provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that’s meant to protect voters from being disenfranchised.
