BREAKING: Supreme Court Decision on mail-in ballots Shakes Up the 2024 Election

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A lower court decision was overruled by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which decided that mail-in ballots with improper dates or dates on the outside envelope could not be counted. People who support election integrity view this decision as a major win.

In a 4-3 decision, the state’s high court ruled that the lower court, which had previously declared the mandate unenforceable, should not have presided over the case, as it only involved two counties—Philadelphia and Allegheny—rather than all 67 counties in Pennsylvania. As counties are responsible for election administration in the state, the ruling emphasized that all should have been included in the case.

The Associated Press noted that this reversal could lead to the disqualification of thousands of timely submitted ballots in a crucial swing state, potentially influencing the outcome of closely contested elections. It is widely known that more Democrats vote by mail in Pennsylvania than Republicans, further raising the stakes.

Republican organizations, who had challenged the ruling of the lower court, hailed the judgment as a triumph for election integrity. They consider it a huge victory for the outgoing president Donald Trump, who lost Pennsylvania to Joe Biden by a slim margin in 2020. The Republican National Committee Chairman, Michael Whatley, described the ruling as a significant win for election integrity, claiming that it would protect sensible policies for mail-in votes and increase public trust in the democratic process.

Attorneys representing ten left-leaning organizations that had filed the lawsuit suggested that the ruling still left room for additional legal challenges. Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia, expressed concerns that thousands of voters could have their ballots rejected in the upcoming November elections due to minor errors. She advised voters to read and follow instructions carefully when submitting mail-in ballots to reduce the likelihood of rejection due to small mistakes.

Along with the Republican appointees to the court, two Democratic justices rendered the decision. The state constitution’s demand that all elections be “free and equal” was used in the complaint, which was first filed in May, to cast doubt on the validity of the mail-in ballot date restriction.

The Associated Press highlighted that recent elections in Pennsylvania have demonstrated that more than 10,000 ballots in this year’s general election could be discarded due to incorrect or missing envelope dates. With Pennsylvania holding 19 electoral votes, the largest number among the seven swing states, this issue is expected to carry considerable weight in future elections.

Historically, Pennsylvania has rejected ballots for having missing or incorrect dates, such as dates from the future or before the mail-in ballots were issued. While state law requires that dates be included on the envelope, election officials do not use these dates to determine whether a ballot arrived on time. Instead, mail-in ballots are logged and time-stamped upon receipt and must arrive at the county election offices by the time polls close on Election Day.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin has issued a broad executive order that requires all ballots for the 2024 presidential election to be on paper. Former President Donald Trump has praised this move, which is part of Youngkin’s ongoing effort to solidify election security protocols in the state. The governor’s Executive Order 35, issued recently, formalizes these measures for all future elections in Virginia.

In 2022, Republican Youngkin was elected to the Virginia governorship, joining fellow Republicans Lt Gov Winsome Earle-Sears and AG Jason Miyares while Virginia State has historically been a swing state, although recent presidential elections have shown the state moving Democratic. Youngkin has made it clear that Virginia’s approach to election security is an attempt to guarantee that each and every legitimate vote is correctly counted, not a political one. He restated that Virginia’s voting system is efficient and guarantees that no legitimate vote is tainted by illegitimate votes or voting machine errors.