Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds exclusion of certain mail-in ballots, in victory for GOP

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates cannot be counted in the 2024 election, delivering a victory to Republican Party officials as they moved to aggressively defend their narrow Senate victory in amid a recount challenge in the Keystone State. 

In a 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court reaffirmed its prior decision that counties in the state cannot count incorrectly dated or undated ballots, explicitly singling out Boards of Elections in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County, whom they said “SHALL COMPLY with the prior rulings of this Court in which we have clarified” for mail-in and absentee ballots in their Nov. 1 ruling.

The decision is a victory for Republican Party officials, who had filed 12 different lawsuits in the state amid an aggressive Senate recount effort following the narrow victory of Republican candidate David McCormick over three-term Democrat Sen. Bob Casey.

REPUBLICANS FILE 12 PENNSYLVANIA LAWSUITS IN ‘AGGRESSIVE’ PUSH TO END RECOUNT

FILE: This Nov. 6, 2020 file photo shows a general view of the Pennsylvania Judicial Center, home to the Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

McCormick had defeated Casey by some 17,000 ballots in the state, or within the 0.5% margin of error that allows Casey to qualify for an automatic recount under Pennsylvania law. 

But ahead of the Pennsylvania Senate recount, which officially kicked off on Monday, Republicans had sounded the alarm by election county commissioners in Philadelphia, Bucks County, and Montgomery Count for moving to allow for the counting of incorrectly dated and undated mail-in and absentee ballots—an effort party officials said broke with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision.

Democrat Senator Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick  ( Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images, left, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, right.)

Speaking to reporters on a call Monday, Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley vowed to maintain “an aggressive, comprehensive and strategic legal posture for as long as it takes to ensure that this election is going to be certified” in Pennsylvania, and to bring an end to what party officials described as “corrupt and despicable conduct” by Democrats in the state.

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While the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Nov. 1 that requiring mail-in ballots to have handwritten dates is constitutional, in a victory for the GOP, the new framing is more direct— establishing that counties trying to count such ballots are indeed trying to violate the law. 

This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for more updates.