The Secretary of State in Pennsylvania has responsibility for overseeing the integrity of the electoral process. Or, at least that used to be the case. Now it appears that the job of the Secretary of State is to ensure that the Democratic Party takes control of all aspects of state government and to manipulate the electoral apparatus as much as necessary to make sure that happens.
The high court’s action means that the 3rd Circuit ruling cannot be used as a precedent in the three states covered by this regional federal appellate court – Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware – to allow the counting of ballots with minor flaws such as the voter failing to fill in the date.
…on Tuesday morning, acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman said she had just been informed of the ruling and that “we’re reviewing that decision and we’ll provide guidance to counties accordingly.” Chapman works in the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat.
Supreme Court upends Pennsylvania precedent permitting undated mail-in ballots
Washington Times|2 days ago
The Supreme Court erased Tuesday a lower court ruling that had allowed the counting of undated mail-in ballots in a local Pennsylvania election.
The state’s highest court had permitted the undated ballots to be counted in 2020 when mail-in balloting surged due to the pandemic, but the justices signaled the court would not allow the change in future elections.
U.S. Supreme Court backs Republican in Pennsylvania ballots case
Reuters on MSN.com|2 days ago
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with an unsuccessful Republican candidate for a judgeship in Pennsylvania and threw out a lower court’s ruling that had allowed the counting of mail-in ballots in the race that he had sought to exclude because voters neglected to write the date on them.
The justices vacated the ruling by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as requested by David Ritter, who lost his 2021 bid for a spot on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas to a Democratic rival by five votes after 257 absentee ballots without date notations were counted.
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Ritter told the Supreme Court that unless the 3rd Circuit ruling was wiped off the books, it would allow undated mail-in ballots to be counted in future elections in Pennsylvania and would “threaten to invalidate countless regulations of mail-in voting” nationwide. Pennsylvania Republican legislators echoed Ritter’s warning.
Election 2022: U.S. Supreme Court reverses Pennsylvania mail-in voting law decision
Pennsylvania to count undated ballots, election official says, despite US Supreme Court ruling
Wed, October 12, 2022 at 3:11 PM·2 min read
A top election official in Pennsylvania says the state will disregard the U.S. Supreme Court’s guidance on counting mail-in ballots arriving in envelopes with typos or incorrect dates, saying that the state’s Commonwealth Court has already established the practice as licit.
Pennsylvania’s election laws have historically required voters to include a signature and date on the outside of return envelopes when voting by mail.
However, acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman announced that Pennsylvania election officials should continue counting ballots that arrive with improperly filled-out envelopes, in accordance with the Commonwealth Court’s previous ruling on the matter.
PA Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 38 