HARRISBURG, Pa. - A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled today that Butler County had no legal basis to disqualify the provisional ballots of two mail voters who forgot to include the secrecy envelope with their ballot return packets in the 2024 primary election. In a 2-1 decision, the court ordered the county to count the provisional ballots of Faith Genser and Frank Matis, the two county voters who brought a lawsuit against the Butler County board of elections after the board refused to count their provisional ballots.
Genser and Matis are represented by the Public Interest Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which responded to today’s ruling in a statement. The following can be attributed to Ben Geffen, senior attorney at the Public Interest Law Center:
“Today’s decision ensures that if you make a paperwork mistake that will keep your mail-in ballot from counting, you can fix the problem by going to your polling place on Election Day and filling out a provisional ballot. This is an important safety net that protects the right to vote for Pennsylvania citizens.”
The following can be attributed to Marian Schneider, senior policy counsel for voting rights at the ACLU of Pennsylvania:
“Provisional ballots were implemented more than 20 years ago for this very reason, to be sure that voters who want to participate in elections had their votes counted without human error getting in the way. This decision provides statewide clarity about this voting-rights issue, setting a precedent for all Pennsylvania counties. We’re going to keep working to be sure that voters’ ballots are counted without unnecessary barriers leading to them being disqualified.”
More information about the case, Genser and Matis v. Butler County Board of Elections, can be found at aclupa.org/genser.
