RNC Wins Major Election Integrity Victory In Pennsylvania
A federal appeals court has sided with election integrity experts who sought to require signatures from voters as a prerequisite for Pennsylvania expanding access to mail-in voting.
In a 2-1 decision among three Democrat-appointed judges, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals sided with lawyers for the Republican National Committee who argued that undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots should not count toward Election Day totals. The decision overturns a previous ruling by a federal appeals court which struck down a state Supreme Court decision on the “dated signature requirement” for mail-in ballots.
In a statement, the RNC declared the ruling a victory for election integrity and a blow for left-wing activists intent on using the courts to contest close elections.
“This ruling will have far-reaching effects regarding left-wing attempts to weaponize the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act across the country and represents a victory for mail ballot safeguards in a crucial swing state,” the organization wrote in response to the ruling.
🚨 The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of an RNC-led election integrity lawsuit on signature verification for mail voting in Pennsylvania.⁰⁰“This is a crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence.” –@ChairmanWhatleyhttps://t.co/g6xRqEvtj9
— GOP (@GOP) March 27, 2024
“The Pennsylvania General Assembly has decided that mail-in voters must date the declaration on the return envelope of their ballot to make their vote effective,” the ruling said. “The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania unanimously held this ballot-casting rule is mandatory; thus, failure to comply renders a ballot invalid under Pennsylvania law.”
Under state law, a voter who casts their vote by mail is required to sign their name on an outer envelope so that local and state election officials can compare it with signatures on file from the Department of Motor Vehicles or other state agencies.
Circuit Court Judge Thomas Ambro wrote in the court’s opinion that opponents were incorrect to claim that the signature requirement violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act; the landmark law “is concerned only with the process of determining a voter’s eligibility to cast a ballot,” not ballot-casting rules broadly according to the AP.
New RNC Chair Michael Whatley, a Trump ally, has redoubled the GOP’s efforts around election integrity, filing at least 81 suits this cycle alone. With the court’s decision in hand, Whatley now has a federal precedent to utilize lawsuits involving Democrat-run states where abuse of mail-in voting has been cited on multiple occasions in recent years.
