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Voting rights groups in Pa. are suing to allow undated ballots to be counted. They hope to win before November’s election.

The suit, filed by parties including the ACLU, says that disqualifications for that reason are a violation of the state constitution.

A Bucks County ballot drop-off location at the County Administration Building (Old Court House) on East Court Street, in Doylestown on Oct. 30, 2023. Pennsylvania voters have options on how to return their completed mail-in or absentee ballot by mail, at a drop box, at their county election board, or other officially designated location. Under Pennsylvania law, voters must return their own ballots. The only exceptions to this are for voters with a disability who have designated someone in writing to deliver their ballot.
A Bucks County ballot drop-off location at the County Administration Building (Old Court House) on East Court Street, in Doylestown on Oct. 30, 2023. Pennsylvania voters have options on how to return their completed mail-in or absentee ballot by mail, at a drop box, at their county election board, or other officially designated location. Under Pennsylvania law, voters must return their own ballots. The only exceptions to this are for voters with a disability who have designated someone in writing to deliver their ballot.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Pennsylvania voting rights groups are once again seeking to overturn a state law that bars undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots from being counted.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Public Interest Law Center filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on behalf of eight voting rights and civil rights organizations. The suit, which was filed against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt and election officials in Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, argues that the disqualification of undated ballots violates the Pennsylvania Constitution, which guarantees a right to vote in free and equal elections.

“Pennsylvania should be making it easier to vote, not more difficult,” Mike Lee, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania,” said in a news release. “This arbitrary handwritten date requirement has already disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters in the commonwealth. With such high stakes in the 2024 election, Pennsylvania counties must do everything they can to ensure that every vote is counted.”

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State said in an emailed statement that while officials are still reviewing the lawsuit, the department agrees with the suit’s contention that a mistaken date line should not invalidate a mail ballot.

“In the years of litigation over this issue, it has become irrefutably clear that the handwritten date serves no function in the administration of Pennsylvania’s election,” spokesperson Ellen Lyon said. “As a result, the department has consistently argued in court that voters should not be disenfranchised for failing to write or incorrectly writing a date that serves no function.”

A spokesman for Omar Sabir, chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, declined to comment on pending litigation.

A spokesperson for Allegheny County said in a statement that the county, like all others in Pennsylvania, is bound by a 2022 state Supreme Court decision that said ballots must be dated by the voter in order to be counted.

“Allegheny County is committed to ensuring voters have the information they need to properly complete their ballots and has consistently had a robust cure process so that voters can correct inadvertent errors such as having an incomplete date or signature on the ballot return envelope,” county spokesperson Abigail Gardner said.

The filing comes as another lawsuit, arguing that the policy violates the federal Voting Rights Act, is working its way through federal courts.

Under Pennsylvania law, a mail ballot must be dated by a voter in order to be counted. Ahead of the primary election in April, officials sought to minimize the number of ballots rejected by redesigning ballot envelopes to make the date and signature spaces more clear.

But voters continued to make errors on their ballots, invalidating them. In Philadelphia, for example, more than 400 ballots were rejected because they were not dated or were incorrectly dated.

Statewide, nearly 8,000 ballots were rejected for issues with the date, signature or privacy envelope in April. Looking ahead to November’s election, decisions to count or not count those ballots could have a major impact on competitive races and the perception of Pennsylvania’s elections during November’s critical presidential and Senate races.

Rejection of the ballots, the lawsuit argued, disproportionately disenfranchises senior citizens, who have been more likely to submit erroneous ballots in recent years.

The ACLU and the law center are asking the court to find the rule unconstitutional, a decision that would allow undated and incorrectly dated ballots to be counted in November if a ruling were issued by then.

The lawsuit describes the date rule as “inconsequential paperwork,” and advocates argue that it is irrelevant because voters cannot cast a mail ballot until after counties send them out and ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

“The county knows that my ballot was received on time, and I don’t know why the date is necessary,” Joe Sommar, a Chester County voter who submitted a declaration in support of the suit, said in the news release. “It seems like an arbitrary thing, just another step to allow people to mess up and have their votes not counted.”