Provisional ballots must be counted if mail-in ballots are disqualified, Pa. Supreme Court rules
County election officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail ballots are rejected because of errors, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.
The 4-3 decision affirms a Sept. 5 ruling by a Commonwealth Court panel in favor of two voters whose “naked” mail-in ballots were rejected because they lacked secrecy envelopes inside the return envelopes.
In an opinion for the Supreme Court majority, Justice Christine Donohue wrote that the Butler County Board of Elections correctly rejected the voters’ mail-in ballots because they did not comply with the Election Code’s requirement to use a plain envelope to ensure the anonymity of ballots.
But the board erred by refusing to count provisional ballots the voters cast at their polling places after learning their mail ballots were fatally flawed, Donohue said. The Election Code requires county elections officials to count provisional ballots if no other ballot is attributable to the voter.
https://penncapital-star.com/briefs/provisional-ballots-must-be-counted-if-mail-in-ballots-are-disqualified-pennsylvania-supreme-court-rules/