The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has made a decision on September 13 that upholds the requirement for voters in the state to include accurate dates on the exterior envelopes of their mail-in ballots for the votes to be counted. This ruling overturns a previous decision by the Commonwealth Court that had halted enforcement of the date requirement under Pennsylvania law. The Commonwealth Court found the date requirement unconstitutional but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court disagreed.
The Supreme Court found that the Commonwealth Court did not have the authority to review the case as all 67 county election boards were not included as defendants. Justice David Wecht dissented, arguing that the court should have ruled on the constitutional question rather than vacating the lower court’s decision on technical grounds.
The case was brought by a coalition of advocacy groups challenging the legality of the date requirement for mail-in ballots. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision could potentially affect thousands of votes in the upcoming presidential election in the state.
The ACLU estimated that the date requirement has led to the disqualification of tens of thousands of Pennsylvania voters who were otherwise eligible. The Republican National Committee praised the decision as a win for election integrity, while the Democratic National Committee argued that the date requirement serves no state interest.
This ruling highlights the ongoing debate between election integrity measures and voting access as the 2024 election approaches. Please provide a sentence or phrase for me to rewrite.
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