Mail Ballots Without Dates Must Be Counted: Pennsylvania Court

‘We are not being asked to make changes with respect to the impending 2024 General Election,’ Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote.

Poll workers demonstrate how ballots are received, processed, scanned, and stored on Election Day, at the Philadelphia Election Warehouse in Philadelphia on Oct. 25, 2024. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images

A Pennsylvania court ruled on Oct. 30 that the state’s requirement for mail-in ballots to be correctly dated in order to be counted is unconstitutional, although the 3–2 decision, according to the judge’s opinion, applies only to a past special election.

A Commonwealth Court panel upheld a ruling by a Philadelphia judge stating that 69 ballots from the special election, submitted on time but lacking handwritten dates, must be counted.