Pennsylvania federal appeals court rules states can’t count undated ballots

The U.S. Court of Appeals’ three-person panel ruled 2-1 on Wednesday that undated mail-in ballots cannot be counted, overturning a lower court’s ruling saying that they could be.

How did this case come about? In November 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that voters needed to sign and date the envelope containing their mail-in ballot. Ballots without a signature and date cannot be counted. In response, the Pennsylvania NAACP sued a swath of Pennsylvania election officials in November 2022. The U.S. District Court Judge Susan Baxter for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled one year later in favor of the Pennsylvania NAACP, saying in her opinion that election officials’ actions in disqualifying those ballots did violate the Civil Rights Act. Wednesday’s ruling by the Pennsylvania federal appeals court reversed Baxter’s decision.

What happens now? If appealed, the case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. “We are considering all of our options at this time. And we will not stop fighting for voters,” American Civil Liberties Union attorney Ari Savitzky said after the decision. Savitzky argued the case before the Pennsylvania appeals court.