In a 4-3 opinion, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled against county boards of elections counting undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots.

The decision appears to be a victory for Republican Dave McCormick and a defeat for Democrat Bob Casey Jr. as a recount of the state’s U.S. Senate race is underway.

The Commonwealth’s highest court exercised its King’s Bench authority and “directed that all Respondents, including the Boards of Elections in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County, SHALL COMPLY with the prior rulings of this Court in which we have clarified that mail-in and absentee ballots that fail to comply with the requirements of the Pennsylvania Election Code, see 25 P.S. §§ 3146.6(a), 3150.16(a), SHALL NOT BE COUNTED for purposes of the election held on November 5, 2024.

“This order shall be deemed authoritative and controlling in all such matters and as to all county election board members.”

Justice Kevin Dougherty authored the opinion, while Justices David Wecht and Kevin Brobson each filed concurring statements. Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy concurred with each statement. Justice Kevin Donohue filed a dissenting statement in which Chief Justice Debra Todd and Justice Daniel McCaffrey joined.

Some county election boards, including those in Democratic-controlled Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia, had moved to segregate and count the undated or incorrectly dated ballots, citing mixed messages from earlier state court rulings.

That drew the ire of the Dave McCormick campaign, the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, who replied in a letter to those counties.

“The Board has now doubled down on its violation of the law and included invalid undated and misdated ballots in its official tally of votes. The Board’s recalcitrant refusal to obey the law and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s orders can serve only one purpose: to bolster outgoing Senator Casey’s election denial and to erode public confidence in Pennsylvania voters’ election of Senator-elect McCormick.

Democrats have traditionally cast more mail-in ballots than Republicans and have been more supportive in legal action to count ballots with clerical errors.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said “As counties continued counting ballots from the 2024 general election and a mandatory statewide recount begins in the U.S. Senate race, they were confronted with a lack of legal clarity surrounding undated mail-in ballots that caused significant confusion and put counties in a challenging legal position. Both my predecessor and I have repeatedly called on lawmakers to deliver greater clarity on mail-in voting – and due to certain legislative actors refusing to act on critical election reforms, this issue had been left to the courts.

“Given this lack of clarity, county officials in each of our 67 counties were damned if they do and damned if they didn’t – likely facing legal action no matter which decision they made on counting.”

He said that he expected all county officials to adhere to the ruling.

McCormick leads Casey by 17,700 votes as of late Monday afternoon, as the mandatory recount is underway. The recount was required because state law calls for one if the unofficial results fall within a difference of 0.5 percent.

“Today’s ruling is a massive setback to Senator Casey’s attempt to count illegal ballots. Bucks County and others blatantly violated the law in an effort to help Senator Casey. Senator-elect McCormick is very pleased with this ruling and looks forward to taking the Oath of Office in a few short weeks,” said Elizabeth Gregory, McCormick communications director.

“I want to make sure that trust and faith is upheld,” said Casey in an email. “Pennsylvanians deserve to trust that when they cast a vote legally, it is counted. They deserve to trust they will not be disenfranchised due to mistakes made by poll workers or election officials. They deserve to trust that expediency will never be valued more than democracy.

“Regardless of the final result, I am committed to ensuring Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard.”