The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has determined that the two biggest counties in the state do not have to count mail-in ballots that have either the wrong date or no date where indicated on the outer envelope. The ruling was 4 to 3, with those 3 justices writing a dissent in the case.

The order from the court found that the lower court, which had ruled that those ballots must be counted even with the errors, lacked jurisdiction in the case because only Allegheny and Philadelphia Counties were mentioned in the case and not all of the state's 67 counties.

The order reads: "AND NOW, this 13th day of September, 2024, the order of the Commonwealth Court is VACATED. The Commonwealth Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to review the matter given the failure to name the county boards of elections of all 67 counties, and because the joinder of Al Schmidt, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Commonwealth, did not suffice to invoke the Commonwealth Court’s original jurisdiction."

In practice, this means that in the coming presidential election, officials will not count any ballots that are either misdated or undated ballots. The jurisdiction issue could be addressed by the plaintiffs in the case before the election. The plaintiffs are listed as Black Political Empowerment Project, Power Interfaith, Make the Road Pennsylvania, OnePA Activists, New PA Project Education Fund, Casa San Jose, Pittsburgh United, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and Common Cause Pennsylvania.

A spokesman from the Pennsylvania Department of State said that it was "disappointing" and that it "leaves unanswered the important question of whether the dating requirement violates the Pennsylvania Constitution, as the Commonwealth Court found," reported The New York Times.

Pennsylvania is a battleground state with both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's campaigns competing hard for the votes of those in the commonwealth. Joe Biden took the state in 2020, but the state of Texas attempted to bring suit against Pennsylvania after Pennsylvania did not follow their own laws regarding elections. The Supreme Court would not hear the case.

In April's presidential primary, 16,000 mail-in ballots were disqualified due to irregularities. Those irregularities included missing signatures and incorrect or missing dates on the outer envelopes. Due to that occurrence, the secretary of state under Governor Josh Shapiro told county officials to print ballots with the year pre-printed on the outer envelopes so that voters merely have to write down the month and day they cast their ballot.

J-79-2024pco - 106072150281081766 by The Post Millennial on Scribd