The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 7, 2025
Available here after 11 AM Eastern April 6: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/americandemocracyminute
Some good news during some very dark days for American democracy. A federal judge ruled Pennsylvania mail-in ballots without a date can be counted, protecting the vote of as many as 10,000 citizens who made a simple mistake.
The ballots were received by election officials on time from eligible voters, but lacked a date, or included the wrong date. Republicans sued to invalidate them and won in lower state courts. Pro-voter groups claim rejecting the ballots violated the Commonwealth’s Free and Equal Elections Clause. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court initially refused to hear the appeal last September, but said in January it will now hear the case.
Meanwhile, the ACLU asked the U.S. Supreme Court to find that rejecting the ballots was a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s Materiality Provision, preventing ballots from being rejected for trivial issues. The high court refused the ACLU case, but the U.S. District Court ruled March 31st that the rejections were illegal.
Judge Susan Baxter wrote, “The evidence of record demonstrates that county boards across the Commonwealth discarded 10,657 otherwise valid ballots in the 2022 general election solely because voters either forgot to date them or used an incorrect date. Such disenfranchisement burdens the right to vote and there is no valid state interest to weigh this against.”
It’s unclear when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will weigh in on the issue.
We’ve linked to more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – (2024) After Years of Litigation, Undated Ballot Envelopes are Again at Issue in Pennsylvania’s 2024 Election – and Thousands Likely Disenfranchised
Reuters – Pennsylvania can discard undated mail-in ballots, US appeals court rules
ACLU – Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP et al. v. Schmidt et al
Jurist – US judge rules Pennsylvania rejecting undated mail-in ballots violated First Amendment
U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania via Democracy Docket – BETTE EAKIN, et al. Plaintiffs
vs. ADAMS COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS, et al
Democracy Docket – Pennsylvania Must Count Undated Mail-In Ballots, Federal Court Rules
Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, NAACP PA , League of Women Voters PA, Black Political Empowerment Project
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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#Democracy #DemocracyNews #Pennsylvania #UndatedBallots