Former President Donald Trump has railed against mail-in ballots for years. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, left, Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images, right.)
KEY ISSUES AHEAD OF PENNSYLVANIA'S GOP PRIMARY INCLUDE ELECTION INTEGRITY, MAIL-IN VOTING LAW
But in Wednesday’s federal appeals court’s opinion, Judge Thomas Ambro wrote that the state legislature passed law and had decided that mail-in voters must write the date on their envelopes to make their vote effective.
"The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania unanimously held this ballot-casting rule is mandatory; thus, failure to comply renders a ballot invalid under Pennsylvania law," Ambro wrote.
The Materiality Provision "only applies when the State is determining who may vote," Ambro wrote.
Under a state law passed in 2019, Pennsylvania voters must "fill out, date and sign the declaration printed on [the] envelope" before returning their ballot.
Proponents of mail-in ballots argue it makes voting more convenient, as well as being easier for senior citizens and people with disabilities to vote. However, some Republicans say that the process raises serious election integrity issues, while former President Donald Trump has blasted the system as "totally corrupt" and blames it, in part, for his 2020 election loss.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats have been far more likely to vote by mail than Republicans.
Michael Whatley, the chair of the Republican National Committee, welcomed the ruling. (Robert Willett/The News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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"If this ruling stands, thousands of Pennsylvania voters could lose their vote over a meaningless paperwork error," said Mike Lee, the executive director of the ACLU in Pennsylvania.
"The ballots in question in this case come from voters who are eligible and who met the submission deadline. In passing the Civil Rights Act, Congress put a guardrail in place to be sure that states don’t erect unnecessary barriers that disenfranchise voters. It’s unfortunate that the court failed to recognize that principle."
In the 2022 midterms, more than 7,600 mailed ballots in 12 counties were tossed because their outer envelopes lacked dates or had incorrect dates, according to the decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
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