Thousands of ballots are at stake as the Supreme Court considers Pennsylvania voting rules
Source: Aol/NBC News
Updated October 31, 2024 at 8:49 PM
Pennsylvanias mail balloting policies have been the focus of intense litigation since the 2020 election. Now, two new cases may address the rules in the biggest battleground state on the eve of the election, with implications for thousands of ballots that have already been mailed in or dropped off.
The latest fights and there may be more to come present two issues. The first case is about whether a voter who returns a deficient mail ballot for example, a mail ballot missing its secrecy envelope or one that was undated or misdated by a voter can cast a provisional ballot, instead, on Election Day, as was the general practice in 2022. The state Supreme Court recently said yes, based on state law, but the U.S. Supreme Court may soon weigh in. The NBC News Decision Desk estimates that thousands of votes could be at stake.
The second case is about whether undated or misdated mail ballots should be rejected at all. That issue has been litigated many times, because election officials do not use the date a voter writes on the ballot envelope to determine the validity of a mail ballot they just consider whether the mail ballot was received on time. Previous suits have not succeeded in striking down the state rule, but a Pennsylvania appellate court revived the issue Wednesday by requiring the Philadelphia Board of Elections to count undated and misdated mail ballots in the context of a September special election.
And while it is not clear whether that decision will prompt a reassessment of the statewide rule for the 2024 presidential election the state Supreme Court had previously indicated it is unlikely to change the rules while voting is underway the NBC News Decision Desk estimates there could be thousands of misdated or undated mail ballots in Pennsylvania.
Read more: https://www.aol.com/thousands-ballots-stake-supreme-court-223802669.html
Lovie777
(15,118 posts)3825-87867
(1,122 posts)I did some quick checking and no where does it state that any vote is required to be secret. It's been a tradition but maybe someone else can find whether any state has put that into its laws.
BumRushDaShow
(143,302 posts)(a) Additional envelopes.--The county boards of election shall provide two additional envelopes for each official mail-in ballot of a size and shape as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, in order to permit the placing of one within the other and both within the mailing envelope. On the smaller of the two envelopes to be enclosed in the mailing envelope shall be printed, stamped or endorsed the words "Official Mail-in Ballot," and nothing else. On the larger of the two envelopes, to be enclosed within the mailing envelope, shall be printed the form of the declaration of the elector and the name and address of the county board of election of the proper county. The larger envelope shall also contain information indicating the local election district of the mail-in voter.
(b) Form of declaration and envelope.--The form of declaration and envelope shall be as prescribed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and shall contain, among other things, a statement of the elector's qualifications, together with a statement that the elector has not already voted in the primary or election.
(c) Mailing envelope.--The mailing envelope addressed to the elector shall contain the two envelopes, the official mail-in ballot, lists of candidates, when authorized by section 1303-D(b), the uniform instructions in form and substance as prescribed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and nothing else.
(d) Notice.--Notice of the requirements under section 1306-D shall be printed on the envelope for the mail-in ballot.
Marthe48
(19,158 posts)we can be sure the biased majoroity decision from unelected despots will break for the traitor.
Ligyron
(7,904 posts)If we lose, it would be very difficult for her/us/democracy to win and those thousands of votes could make a huge difference.
BumRushDaShow
(143,302 posts)and came out okay.
They seem to only want to compare 2024 to 2020 (as a Presidential election) and 2020 was a FREAK circumstance of a pandemic, where almost 50% of the people availed themselves of the mail ballots - MAINLY because (outside of it being a pandemic) most counties/municipalities ended up with barely 1/2 of their usual "in person" polling locations, so rather than wait in line forever at the limited sites, people did it by mail/dropbox. After that, with the 2021, 2022, & 2023 elections, the number of people using this option dropped to about 1/3rd, where the REST voted "in person".
This 2024 cycle with more "early submissions" of absentee ballots, is probably because of the GOTV efforts, so it will be instructive to see what actually happens election day and I hope the polling sites are ready for it! I know back in 2008 with Obama's election, it was insane.
Clouds Passing
(2,463 posts)wryter2000
(47,539 posts)Might have no effect on the election. It's still voter suppression, but for all we know, they could be Trump votes.
FakeNoose
(35,873 posts)So yes, we do know who sent the ballot.
Once those tests are passed, the envelope is opened and the inside envelope (with the ballot) is separated from the outside envelope. That's when they know whether the secrecy envelope was used. The question now is whether the ballot can be considered valid if there is no secrecy envelope.
Some PA counties are contacting the voters and asking them to come to the Board of Elections and "cure" the ballot. (In other words, fix the mistake.) Other counties are tossing the ballots into the "refused" dumpster and not counting them. So those voters have been disenfranchised and they may not even know it.
As BumRush explains, this has been before the PA courts several times in the last 4 years and the Repukes just won't let it go. Now it has gone to the SCOTUS.
wryter2000
(47,539 posts)Or how they voted
BumRushDaShow
(143,302 posts)but sometimes they can "guess" at trends based on how many are coming in from certain counties. What is blowing the M$M mind that they are trying to speculate about but really pushing the GOP agenda by dismissing the idea, is how many "crossover" votes there are and there appears there may be quite a few from the GOP side. But the crossover might be limited in a number in those deep red counties, to just the top of the ticket, and they will go back to their normal for what they dub "the row offices".
IMHO, they should look at the % of Haley voters during the primary here and then maybe take 1/10th to 1/3rd of those as a potential "crossover"voter (where others might leave the top of the ticket blank, and the rest will vote straight (R)).
BigDemVoter
(4,551 posts)will do whatever benefits Cheato the most.
red dog 1
(29,442 posts)BlueKota
(3,678 posts)They will side with their divine lord and master. If people want to call anybody scum, it should be those six, because they've earned it.