Supreme Court allows disputed Pennsylvania mail-in ballots to be counted

On Thursday, The New York Timesreported that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued an emergency order allowing Pennsylvania election officials to count a set of disputed mail-in ballots that lacked a date written on the outside envelope.

The order was 6 to 3, with far-right Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissenting.

"The case concerned a state law enacted in 2019 that permitted all registered voters to vote by mail. The law required voters using mailed ballots to 'fill out, date and sign' a declaration printed on the outside of the return envelope that said they were qualified to vote," said the report. "The Supreme Court’s order let stand a ruling from a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, which said the part of the state law requiring the declarations to be dated ran afoul of a provision of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. The provision prohibits government officials from denying the right to vote 'because of an error or omission' if it 'is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under state law to vote.'"

"The case arose from an election in November 2021 for a seat on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas in which David Ritter, a Republican, leads Zachary Cohen, a Democrat, by 71 votes. The local elections board determined that it would also count 257 undated ballots, and challenges in state and federal court followed," said the report. "It was undisputed that the undated ballots were received by Election Day and that the elections board had accepted ballots with incorrect dates, including birth dates, rejecting only missing ones."

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The ruling comes after an extremely close Republican Senate primary between TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and hedge fund executive David McCormick, both of whom fought over the disputed ballots in court.

Last week, McCormick conceded the race to Oz, who won by fewer than 1,000 votes.