On September 25, 2024, 10 organizations filed a suit in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, asking the court to stop enforcement of the commonwealth’s requirement that voters include a handwritten date on the return envelope of their mail ballot packets.
The organizations argue that disqualifying timely received ballots with a missing or incorrect handwritten date violates the rights of voters protected by the Pennsylvania Constitution’s free and equal elections clause.
Represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, American Civil Liberties Union, Public Interest Law Center, and law firm Arnold & Porter, the advocates asked the court to use its “King’s Bench” authority to consider the suit. That power allows the state Supreme Court to hear cases of public importance without first going through the lower courts.
The organizations that filed the lawsuit are New PA Project Education Fund, The State Conference of the NAACP, Common Cause Pennsylvania, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Black Political Empowerment Project, POWER Interfaith, Make the Road Pennsylvania, OnePA Activists United, Casa San Jose, and Pittsburgh United.
On October 5, 2024, the court declined to hear the case.
