Pennsylvania Can’t Reject Misdated or Undated Ballot Envelopes, Court Rules

A federal judge has ruled that Pennsylvania’s requirement for voters to date the outer envelope of their mail-in ballots is unconstitutional. In a March 31 decision, Judge Susan Paradise Baxter of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania sided with a group of Democratic organizations and an Erie County voter who challenged the law after the 2022 general election. The judge said the state’s enforcement of the envelope rule violates the First Amendment because it disenfranchises voters without serving a valid governmental purpose. The case stems from a lawsuit filed in 2022 by two Erie County voters, one of whom later dropped out, along with the campaign of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee....