Public Rights Project – on behalf of a coalition of Pennsylvania county commissioners, councilmembers, and election officials – filed an amicus brief in Genser v. Butler County Board of Elections urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to get in the way of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent decision affirming the right of voters to cast a provisional ballot in instances when their mail-in ballot is not going to be counted because of an error.
Amici Curiae | Undated or Incorrectly Dated Mail-In Ballots
Public Rights Project – on behalf of a coalition of 34 Pennsylvania county commissioners, councilmembers, and election officials – filed an amicus brief in Baxter v. Philadelphia Board of Elections urging the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to require the board to count 69 mail-in ballots that were rejected due to a missing date or incorrect handwritten date in a September 2024 special election in Philadelphia, because to reject the ballots based on those dating issues would violate the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Amici Curiae | Notice and Cure of Mail-in Ballots
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.
Amici Curiae | Provisional Ballots to Correct Defects
Public Rights Project filed an amicus brief in Genser v. Butler County Board of Elections urging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to uphold the Commonwealth Court’s decision to allow voters to cast a provisional ballot in instances when their mail-in ballot is not going to be counted because of an error in returning their mail-in ballot.
Amici Curiae | Disenfranchisement of Older Voters & Mail-In Ballots
Public Rights Project – on behalf of a coalition of 32 Pennsylvania county commissioners, councilmembers, and election officials – filed an amicus brief in Black Political Empowerment Project v. Schmidt urging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to uphold the recent Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court’s decision to eliminate the requirement to date absentee ballots on the outer envelope.
