Public Rights Project – on behalf of county commissioners from east, west and central Pennsylvania – filed an amicus brief in Center for Coalfield Justice, et al. v. Washington County Board of Elections, et al. urging the state’s Supreme Court to uphold the Commonwealth Court’s order that voters be notified if their mail-in ballot will be disqualified for an error and given an opportunity to cure the mistake.
The brief relates to the 2024 primary in Washington County when election officials did not notify voters who submitted mail-in ballots with disqualifying errors and also refused to disclose the status of ballots when voters called to confirm it was received, even after the ballots had been segregated for disqualification.
The signatories to the brief are each the longest-serving member of their respective election board and have first-hand knowledge on how mail-in ballots are processed. The brief argues that election officials are equipped to manage the review and segregation of ballots in a timely manner, especially after the widespread adoption of mail-in ballots over the past five years in Pennsylvania. The signatories also agree with the Commonwealth Court’s rejection of the idea that reviewing ballots to notify voters is illegal. The process requires only a quick review of an outer envelope to identify errors and many counties already follow notice procedures that comply with the court’s order.
Finally, the brief argues that by not giving voters an opportunity to fix an error, those who use mail-in ballots are treated unfairly and disenfranchised.
