Pennsylvania Supreme Court directs election officials to halt counting of ballots containing date inaccuracies

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered election officials in Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties to stop counting mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates on their outer envelopes, in response to a petition filed by the Republican National Committee. This decision comes as Republican Dave McCormick holds a narrow lead over Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in a Senate race that is headed for a recount this week. McCormick’s campaign hailed the ruling as a setback to Casey’s attempt to count illegal ballots, while Casey’s camp criticized the move as an effort to disenfranchise voters. Despite McCormick’s declaration of victory, NBC News has not yet projected a winner in the race. With 99.7% of the vote in and 24,000 ballots still to be counted, the outcome remains too close to call. Pennsylvania rules require a recount when the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points, which must be completed by noon on November 26. The petition sought to challenge the decision by the Democratic-led election boards in the three counties to include ballots with incorrect dates based on the argument that the errors did not invalidate the voter’s eligibility or the legitimacy of the ballot.

Photo credit
www.nbcnews.com