HARRISBURG, Pa. — A lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's requirement for mail-in ballot envelopes to be dated properly was heard on Thursday in the Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg.
The case Black Political Empowerment Project v. Schmidt was brought by grassroot groups along with the ACLU, which argue that enforcing the date requirement violates voters' rights and is unconstitutional under the Pennsylvania constitution.
The requirement had previously been upheld by the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals when it was challenged under federal law.
The suit is against Commonwealth Secretary Al Schmidt and the election boards of Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, and attorneys for the defense argue that the Commonwealth Court does not have standing to rule on the case.
They also say that all counties in the Commonwealth should have a say instead of just the largest two.
"We, at a minimum, think all 67 counties should have a seat at the table," said attorney Shohin Vance, who argued in front of the Court during the hearing. "This is too important to be decided based on the participation of only two counties."
Attorneys for the ACLU said that thousands of people could be disenfranchised as a result of the requirement, and that the case should not be a complicated one.
"This should be a much more simple case," said Stephen Loney, an attorney representing the ACLU in the hearing. "We're talking about people being disenfranchised, and we have a very strong constitutional right to vote in Pennsylvania, so it should be very straightforward."
The ACLU said that at least 10,000 ballots were invalidated in 2022 due to the rejection of ballots without a written date, and that even more could be rejected this year in a higher turnout election.
Attorneys for the ACLU expect the case to eventually be appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.