The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that all mail-in ballots without an inner secrecy envelope will be thrown out in the general election.
Pennsylvania’s election officials are now warning that throwing out these “naked ballots,” could cause electoral chaos.
In a letter sent to legislative leaders on Monday, Chair of the City Commissioners Lisa M. Deeley expressed her concern over the court’s decision. She estimated that with the surge of mail-in ballots approximately 40,000 votes could be thrown out in Philadelphia, with 100,000 votes being thrown out across the state.
The court also ruled to extend the deadline for absentee voting, add more ballot drop boxes and remove the Green Party Candidates from the presidential ballot. However, Deeley warns that the decision to toss out naked ballots “have set up Pennsylvania up to be the subject of significant post-election legal controversy, the likes of which we have not seen since Florida in 2000.”
This set of election rulings comes after Pennsylvania Democrats filed a lawsuit in early September to extend the election deadline by three days in order to count mail-in votes.
With the general election just weeks away, here is how you can properly send in mail-in and absentee ballots according to VotesPa.
Tuesday, September 22 is National Voter Registration day! Visit the Voting Resources page on how to register.
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