Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules mail ballots with incorrect dates won't be counted

[Deminpenn]

32. No, that's the wrong take

Prior to 2020, in Pennsylvaina, you could only vote by absentee ballot if you verified that you were not able to be at your polling place on election day. Mostly absentee ballots were used by college students and disabled voters who couldn't physically get to the poll and maybe people who were away on business/vacation.

In 2020, the state legislature passed a law allowing no excuse absentee ballot voting in return for removing the straight party vote option on state ballots. That came just in time for covid and many people took advantage of it and have continued to vote that way.

The back of the ballot envelope was always poorly designed, but until the explosion of absentee ballots brought on by covid, it wasn't a big deal. Now the state has done its best to make it easy for voters to see what blocks need to be filled out, but there will always be voters who just don't do it correctly.