The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 7, 2025

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

The post Good Democracy News for a Change:  Federal Court Directs Pennsylvania to Count Undated Mail-in Ballots in Ongoing Partisan Dispute appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 3, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

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

Our report on court challenges to undated or misdated mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania mentioned the “Materiality Provision” of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  Just what is the Materiality Provision, and how can it help protect voters?

In question are ballot envelopes from otherwise eligible voters, received on time and correct except for a missing or incorrect date on the outer envelope.  Pennsylvania’s election law invalidates those ballots, and as many as 10,000 voters were affected in 2022.

The materiality provision, part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s Title 1, was designed to keep racist election officials from rejecting voter registrations for minor mistakes – used as a voter suppression tactic throughout the South.  For instance, White voters were given assistance and alerted to mistakes, while Black voters were disenfranchised for a simple spelling error.    

For years, federal courts found that Title 1 applies to the whole voting process, and ruled that missing dates, envelopes, and postmarks are “immaterial” to the validity of the ballot. Only recently have Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and other Conservative judges argued that it should apply ONLY to registration, and overturned such appeals.  

If a voter does everything else right, but makes a trivial mistake, shouldn’t we make every effort to honor the intent of the voter?  The ACLU’s high court appeal may answer that question.

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Congressional Research Service – The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Eleven Titles at a Glance
Fordham Law Voting Rights and Democracy Forum – Helen L. Brewer – Title I of the Civil Rights Act in Contemporary Voting Rights
Litigation
Protect Democracy – The Constitutionality of the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Democracy Docket – Pennsylvania Orgs Ask SCOTUS To Decide if Rejecting Mail-in Ballots for Date Errors Violates Civil Rights Act
Campaign Legal Center – (2018) CLC Argument Used in Georgia Absentee Ballot Cases
Democracy Docket – This Civil Rights Provision Protects Your Vote from Simple Mistakes

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU, NAACP PA , League of Women Voters PA, Black Political Empowerment Project 

Check Your Voter Registration:

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
• USA Vote Foundation – Registration, Eligibility, State Election Office Links
• Vote.Gov – Register to Vote in Your State
• Vote.Org – Check Your Registration to Vote
  
  

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VoterSuppression #CivilRightsAct #Pennsylvania #SCOTUS

The post What is the ‘Materiality Provision’ of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and How Can it Help Protect Voters? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.