Commonwealth Court Upholds Decision That Requires Counties to Inform Voters of Mail Ballot Errors

PA Judicial Center

A three-judge Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court panel upheld a Washington County court decision requiring the county to inform voters of errors with their mail ballots.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia-based Public Interest Law Center sued Washington County’s elections board July 1 on behalf of seven residents claiming they were disenfranchised because the elections board never notified them about mistakes on their mail-in ballots ahead of the April 23 primary election. There were 259 mail-in ballots that weren’t counted during the primary because they were misdated or do not include signatures or dates on the outer envelopes, which are required by state election laws.

Writing for the 2-1 majority, Judge Michael H. Wojcik said “the current Policy emasculates the Election Code’s guarantees by depriving voters … the opportunity to contest their disqualification or to avail themselves of the statutory failsafe of casting a provisional ballot.” Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer agreed with Wojcik, while Lori A. Dumas dissented.

The August ruling affirmed by today’s decision made clear that county election officials must enter proper data into a statewide database — known as the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) system — to ensure voters are notified about mail-in ballot mistakes and informed about the status of their ballots.

Additionally, the judge ordered the county to allow voters to cast a provisional ballot at the polls on Election Day if their mail-in ballots were segregated from the vote total due to a defect. These defects can include technical errors such as an incorrect date, a missing signature, or a missing secrecy envelope.

“Washington County election officials needlessly concealed information from voters, knowing that their ballots wouldn’t be counted,” said Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “We’re grateful that the court saw the important constitutional principle that government agencies cannot withdraw or cancel fundamental rights, especially something as important as voting, without telling people beforehand and sided with the voters.”

““Voters in Washington County can be assured that, if they make a mistake with their mail ballot, they’ll be notified and have a chance to rescue their vote,” said Claudia De Palma, senior attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. “That’s a win for voters.”

The Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania state GOP have not yet indicated whether they plan to appeal today’s ruling to the state’s Supreme Court.

Just last week, the RNC filed a petition in the state Supreme Court seeking to ban cure procedures across the commonwealth and to prevent voters from casting provisional ballots at the polls if their mail-in ballots are rejected.





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