In Wins for Pennsylvania Voters, Court Rules ‘Naked Ballots’ Can Be Fixed, and Ballots with Date Issues Can Be Counted



Today’s Script

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You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

In wins for voters, two Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court rulings confirmed that  so-called ‘naked ballots’ may be cured with a provisional ballot, and that undated or misdated mail ballots must be counted.

The AP reports that 16,000 Pennsylvanians had their mail ballots rejected because of missing information in the 2022 midterms, over 8,000 of which were for missing the outer secrecy envelope – so-called “naked ballots.” Another 7,900 ballots rejected had missing or inaccurate dates.

A 2020 state case confirmed that county authorities could reject naked ballots, and gave election officials latitude to decide whether to notify a voter that a ballot could be fixed, known as “curing.”  Democracy Docket reports that two Butler County voters sued when officials refused to cure their 2024 state primary ballots.  The ACLU argued that if their mail ballots were defective, they should be entitled to cure them with a provisional ballot so they would not be disenfranchised.  A lower court denied the argument, but the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court overturned the decision Sept. 5th. 

This follows another decision from the Commonwealth Court August 30th that Pennsylvania counties must count otherwise valid mail ballots which have no date, or are misdated.  Big wins for Pennsylvanians hoping their vote will count in November.  

We’ve linked to more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Associated Press – (2023)  Majority of 16k canceled Pa. mail-in ballots were from Dems
Votebeat via PA Spotlight – These three court cases could determine how Pennsylvania handles mail ballots this fall
Democracy Docket – Butler County, Pennsylvania Must Count Provisional Votes From Those Who Submitted ‘Naked’ Mail-in Ballots, Court Rules
Democracy Docket – Pennsylvania Counties Must Count Undated and Misdated Mail-in Ballots, Court Rules

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU PA,  PA Conference of the NAACPCommon Cause PABlack Political Empowerment ProjectPublic Interest Law Center,  League of Women Voters PA

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