Pennsylvania Counties Can Help Voters Fix Issues With Mail-In Ballots: Judge

Pennsylvania counties can help voters “cure” mail-in ballots to fix defects, a judge in the state has ruled, rejecting an attempt to block counties from doing so in the upcoming midterm election.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and other parties, which filed a petition over the matter on Sept. 1, “have not proven that there is a clear violation of the Election Code or the law interpreting the Election Code,” Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler said in an opinion on Thursday.

The petition pointed to a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in 2020 that found that state election code enables voters to vote by mail but “does not provide for the ‘notice and opportunity to cure’ procedure” that was sought by Democrats.

Setting rules on fixing ballots “is one best suited for the Legislature,” the unanimous ruling stated.

“The Legislature has addressed the issue of when Boards may provide notice and an opportunity to cure a non-compliant mail-in or absentee ballot,” Republicans said in the petition. “The Election Code currently provides a cure procedure in only a limited circumstance: “[f]or those absentee ballots or mail-in ballots for which proof of identification has not been received or could not be verified.’ And even in that circumstance, the voter may cure only the lack of proof of identification and not any other defect.”

That means that the county boards that have been issuing procedures to cure ballots are in violation of the ruling, the Republicans said.

But Ceisler, a Democrat, said that the Republicans have not proven they are likely to succeed or that the counties are violating election code or the law interpreting the code.

“A review of relevant and recent case law indicates that notice and opportunity to cure procedures implemented by County Boards have generally been accepted in order to fulfill the longstanding