Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules to halt counting of ballots with incorrect dates

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered election officials to stop counting mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates on their outer envelopes in Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. This ruling came as a victory for Republican Dave McCormick, who holds a narrow lead over Democratic Senator Bob Casey in a Senate race that is undergoing a recount. McCormick’s campaign hailed the decision as preventing the counting of illegal ballots, while Casey’s campaign criticized it as an attempt to disenfranchise voters. McCormick declared victory, but NBC News has not projected a winner as the race remains close. The recount must be completed by November 26 due to Pennsylvania rules triggering a recount when the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania had filed the petition seeking the court order, targeting election boards in Democratic-led counties that had previously decided to count ballots with incorrect dates. The argument was that an incorrect date did not necessarily mean a voter was ineligible or that the ballot was invalid. The ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court forces adherence to earlier rulings that undated or misdated mail-in ballots should not be counted, potentially impacting the outcome of the Senate race.

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