Mail-in Pennsylvania ballots with incorrect dates shall be saved however not counted, court docket guidelines By Reuters

(Reuters) – Pennsylvania’s highest court docket on Tuesday ordered officers to disallow mail-in ballots with the flawed date marked on the envelope, probably throwing out quite a few votes in shut races that might decide management of the U.S. Congress in elections subsequent week.

The ruling is a win for Republicans, who filed the case and who’ve been combating to eradicate ballots with incorrect data on them in an effort they are saying is supposed to make sure election safety. Democrats say the lawsuits are actually efforts to disallow votes and will sway tight races.

In its quick ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court docket additionally mentioned that it was evenly break up on the query of whether or not throwing out ballots with incorrect dates or no dates marked on the envelopes during which they’re mailed violates a federal regulation that makes it unlawful to throw out ballots for trivial causes.

For that motive, the court docket directed Pennsylvania county boards of elections to “segregate and protect any ballots contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes,” the ruling mentioned.

Such a transfer would be sure that the ballots had been preserved within the occasion {that a} larger court docket overturns the ruling or finds that discarding such ballots would violate the federal regulation.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court docket mentioned that opinions would comply with.