老澳门开奖结果

PITTSBURGH 鈥� A federal court in western Pennsylvania ruled today that voters who submit mail ballots in time to be counted in an election 鈥� but who mistakenly forget to handwrite a date on the return envelope or write the wrong date 鈥� must have their ballots counted. Disqualifying those ballots is a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act, the court found.

The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed in November 2022 by six voting rights advocacy organizations, later joined by five individual voters. The organizations and voters are represented by legal counsel from the 老澳门开奖结果 of Pennsylvania, 老澳门开奖结果 National, and the law firm Hogan Lovells.

The lawsuit, , was filed by the Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP, Black Political Empowerment Project, Common Cause Pennsylvania, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Make The Road Pennsylvania, and POWER Interfaith. The organizations and their counsel responded to the ruling by issuing the following statements:

Witold Walczak, legal director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Pennsylvania: 鈥淓very eligible person who casts a ballot should have their vote counted. The handwritten-date requirement is completely irrelevant and unnecessary because elections officials know whether the ballot was received on time. And the whole point of this provision in the Civil Rights Act was to stop states from disqualifying votes for frivolous reasons, like this date requirement. We鈥檙e grateful that the court understood that.鈥�

Ari Savitzky, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Voting Rights Project: 鈥淭he right to vote is sacred. Throwing out valid votes because of a minor paperwork error is undemocratic and illegal. This ruling ensures that Pennsylvanians who vote by mail, including senior citizens and voters with disabilities, will not face disenfranchisement because of a trivial mistake in handwriting an irrelevant date on the outer return envelope. Federal law requires nothing less, as the court鈥檚 decision makes crystal clear.鈥�

Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania: 鈥淭his is a tremendous victory for mail-in voters in Pennsylvania. We are relieved that minor clerical errors will no longer prevent Pennsylvanians from having their votes counted. We look forward to seeing the impact that this ruling will have on future elections, particularly for 鈥嬧�媍ommunities of color and elderly Pennsylvanians.鈥�

Susan Gobreski, vice president of policy at the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania: 鈥淲e applaud today鈥檚 court decision in NAACP v. Schmidt. Pennsylvania citizens must have complete and unfettered access to the ballot box, free from unnecessary obstacles or interference. Today鈥檚 decision is a victory for voters and the accessibility of our elections.鈥�

Diana Robinson, civic engagement director for Make the Road Pennsylvania: 鈥淭oday the court affirmed what is already common sense: A minor, meaningless technicality shouldn鈥檛 disenfranchise eligible voters. As long as your ballot is received on time, the date written on the paper is irrelevant and your vote counts.鈥�

Bishop Dwayne Royster, executive director at POWER Interfaith: 鈥淥ur faith calls us to advocate for equitable access to the ballot box, striving to eradicate any injustice that undermines the sacred principle of democratic representation. We cannot allow technicalities to strip away the voices of countless voters who participated in the democratic process, particularly those of us who have historically faced barriers in accessing the ballot box. Count every vote and ensure that eligible ballots are not disqualified over minor paperwork errors.鈥�

Ruling: /documents/opinion-naacp-v-schmidt