Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
Posted on 10/11/2022 9:01:54 AM PDT by lightman
The Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated an appeals court decision that required Pennsylvania to count mail-in ballots even if there is no date on the envelope.
“The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit with instructions to dismiss the case as moot,” wrote Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson (pdf), siding with David Ritter, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for a judgeship.
They also threw out a U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that allowed the counting of mail-in ballots in the race that Ritter had sought to remove because voters did not write the date on the ballots. Ritter lost his 2021 bid to serve on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas after 257 mail-in ballots that didn’t have dates were counted.
Pennsylvania Republican legislators and conservatives filed amicus briefs saying the 3rd Circuit’s ruling threatened the integrity of the 2022 midterm elections.
But the Supreme Court’s action on Tuesday 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. Vacating the ruling does not change Ritter’s loss in his race. Previous Ruling
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court denied Ritter’s attempt to block the counting of ballots that lacked dates. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Days before that (pdf), a panel on the 3rd Circuit ordered the counting of the undated ballots.
Alito had written that the lower court’s ruling “could well affect the outcome” of the elections this year as voters go to the polls on Nov. 8 in midterms in which Republicans are seeking to seize control of Congress from the Democrats.
And he cited concerns that an “individual’s vote is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for casting a ballot,” adding that the appeals court interpretation is “very likely wrong.”
The 3rd Circuit had ruled that invalidating the updated ballots would violate a provision of a landmark 1964 federal law called the Civil Rights Act aimed at ensuring that minor ballot errors do not deny someone the right to vote.
The May ruling by the 3rd Circuit came in a lawsuit by several elderly voters upset that their votes would not be counted for neglecting to write the date on the mail-in ballot envelope, and what they called a “meaningless technicality.” The 3rd Circuit’s rulings also apply to the U.S. Virgin Islands territory.
However, Pennsylvania law stipulates that voters are mandated to write the date on the outer envelope on their mail-in ballot.
Before the Supreme Court’s Tuesday ruling, Republican state Sen. David Argall told The Morning Call that “there are likely to be many issues that come up during the November election” and noted other provisions, including the controversial Act 77 overhaul that was enacted in 2019 that made widespread vote-by-mail possible in Pennsylvania.
Several Republican-led states have enacted tougher voting rules, including for mail-in ballots, following the 2020 election. In Pennsylvania, there is a closely watched U.S. Senate race between Republican Mehmet Oz and Democrat John Fetterman that could help determine which party controls that chamber.
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
Ketanji Brown Jackson - she doesn’t know what a woman is, does she even know what a legal ballot is ?
“Watch the rot not care about your ruling”
LAWS? What stinking laws?! Laws only apply to the Republicans never the Democrats! Just take a look at Colorado what’s going on with the 30,000 registration cards sent to illegals. How many of those illegals voted in 2020? The rats can break laws and get away with it but God forbid if the Republicans even think of breaking one! It’s the gulags for Republicans but promotions and tons of money along with book deals for the Democrats!
In other words, you've been warned....do it right or your vote will not count.
But the whole issue that brought the case - the 2020 elections - is now “moot” - the cat is already out of the bag.
The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit with instructions to dismiss the case as moot.
Yes, it can help in elections going forward but it also cannot be used to dispute a 2020 election - in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware - that’s moot now.
I’m reading that this ruling will NOT apply to the next election. Any case must stand on its own merits...if it gets to the courts.
If a group of conservatives made a concerted effort to steal an election suddenly election security would become a bipartisan issue.
Of course, I am just commenting, not suggesting. Any conservatives that employed democrat election tactics would be prosecuted, spend a couple of years in solitary confinement awaiting trial, and then be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Which part of your anatomy is your a@@ and which is your elbow, Judge Brown?
I don’t know. I’m not a biologist.
Sounds like SCOTUS is reminding lower courts of the plenary powers of Congress and the states’ election laws.
In any game, the side that does not intend to follow rules always wins
“ So, mail-in ballot’s outer envelope requires a signature. Is there signature verification”
Silly rabbit, signatures are racist because black people can’t write
It took a couple of reads, but that’s how I understand it.
p
She does obviously.
Like that guy Malcolm that never learned to spell his last name, so he just wrote ‘X’.
Many will claim the postmark on a ballot is sufficient.
But many ballots go straight into “drop boxes” and never see the postal system, hence, they never get a postmark.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.