HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A divided Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Wednesday that the envelopes voters use to send in mail ballots do not need to have been accurately hand-dated, weighing in after the state Supreme Court sidestepped the issue and six days before the end of voting in the presidential election. The 3-2 decision by Commonwealth Court upheld a Philadelphia judge's ruling that 69 mail ballots should be counted in a pair of single-candidate state House of Representatives special elections held in September.
The majority said the mandate for exterior envelope dates, which are not needed to determine if a ballot has arrived in time, violates a state constitutional provision that says elections must be free and equal and no civil or military power can interfere with the “free exercise of the right of suffrage.” The majority opinion by Judge Ellen Ceisler said the envelope dating rules “restrict the right to have one's vote counted in the special election to only those voters who correctly handwrite the date on their mail ballots and effectively deny the right to all other qualified electors who sought to exercise the franchise by mail in a timely manner but made minor mistakes or omissions.” Ceisler, in a footnote, urged the national and state Republican parties, which lost the case, “to proceed expeditiously should they wish to appeal this decision.
” A lawyer for the Republican parties, Linda A. Kerns, said an appeal will be filed in the coming days. “.
