The federal judge ruled on Monday that poviats in Pennsylvania could not reject the voting card simply because the voter did not write the correct date on the external voting envelope.
Judge Susan Baxter from the western district of Pennsylvania stated that the state dating requirement regarding postal voting violated the first and 14 rights to the 14th amendments, and therefore it cannot be enforced.
In the 21-page ruling, Baxter said that Pennsylvania’s law did not serve you with any government goal.
“Because there is no evidence that the date of the date is any state interest, even a small burden on voting rights cannot withstand constitutional control,” she wrote
Baxter’s ruling, although significant, is almost certainly referred to the higher court as part of a long -term battle for the voting cards most intensively conducted by Pennsylvania. The appeal may mean that the decision is not enforced in the upcoming elections.
Pursuant to Pennsylvania’s applicable law, voters must sign and date the external envelope of their post voting card to count it.
Electoral officials in Pennsylvania persistently said that the date of voting does not serve a practical goal, because instead they rely on postmarks to confirm receipt of voting. But in order to comply with state law, officials of the county rejected thousands of voting cards each year by qualifying voters.
Democrats and activists for voting rights spent years working on throwing this requirement, arguing that they unnecessarily deprived of voters. Republicans, however, defended the law, arguing that the General Assembly in Pennsylvania included them for some reason and that legislative intentions should be followed.
The Department of State in Pennsylvania celebrated this decision as “Voters’ victory in Pennsylvania.”
“The basic right to vote should not be burdened with senseless technique,” said the department spokesman in a statement. “The clergy of the election of the Ferrrum already confirms that each vote has been sent and received in the Legal Voice window
Over the past four years, the Supreme Court in Pennsylvania has repeatedly rejected efforts to annul the date of the requirement for procedural reasons and federal judges of the courts of appeal in the previous case. At the beginning of this year, the Supreme Court in Pennsylvania announced that he would check another case in this case.
Adam Bonin, a lawyer who represented voters and campaign of Senator John Fetterman in 2022 in the case before Baxter on Monday, said that the judge’s ruling was a good step forward. But he would not make voters yet to stop writing the dates of their votes, because the appeals remain possible.
“The court did it well,” said Bonin. “Especially the statement that there is no purpose in this requirement, it simply is not.”
Pennsylvania Republican Party and the Republican National Committee and repeatedly refer to judgments in the State and Federal Court that have repealed state law.
In a statement, the RNC spokeswoman said that she was expecting to appeal again, which means that the Baxter’s ruling can be blocked before it is used in the May elections.
“RNC has been successfully fighting this matter for over two years and we are full of appeal against this decision. The requirement for dating to vote by post is a well security, which the Supreme Court Pennsylvania has previously maintained as legal and required by state law,” said Abigail Jackson, RNC spokeswoman.
