More Than 3,400 Mail-in Ballots In Philadelphia At Risk Of Rejection

Election officials in Philadelphia on Saturday said more than 3,400 mail-in ballots risk being rejected because of incorrect information, missing dates, or missing secrecy envelopes.

Eko Hot Blog reports that Philadelphia City Commissioners’ Chairwoman Lisa Deeley released the affected voters’ names and urged them to take immediate steps to get replacement ballots.

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Officials say the number of at-risk ballots will grow as more are returned.

The action by Deeley comes after the state Supreme Court on Tuesday barred local election officials from counting ballots with missing or incorrect dates on the return envelope.

A highly competitive US Senate race that could decide control of the chamber is on the ballot in this key swing state, along with a closely watched contest for governor.

“I am extremely disappointed in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision concerning undated and incorrectly dated ballots,” Deeley said in a Saturday statement. “Handwritten dates are not material and the lack of such a date should not be a reason to disenfranchise a voter.”

Currently, more than 1,800 of the ballots flagged by Philadelphia authorities lack the required dates.

Election officials say their city hall office will be open Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to help voters fix the problem.

Pennsylvania’s requirement that voters sign and provide a handwritten date on their ballot return envelope has been the subject of litigation for months. And on Friday, several Pennsylvania groups, including the state branches of the NAACP and the League of Women Voters, filed a lawsuit in federal court, challenging the state’s plan to not count undated ballots.

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The lawsuit calls a missing or incorrect date “a meaningless technicality” and argues that throwing out a ballot on those grounds violates federal civil rights law.

SOURCE: CNN

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