November 4, 2022
PHILADELPHIA — All Voting is Local Pennsylvania’s State Director Nick Pressley issued the following statement in response to reports of counties not following proper guidance on how to handle improperly dated ballots:
“Pennsylvania voters deserve the freedom to vote without being punished for the minor slipup of not writing a date on an envelope. Counties that refuse to offer curing or provisional ballot options for valid votes because of a minor human error are stripping voters in the state of their voices and violate guidance by the Department of State, as well as federal law.
“Counties must follow the Department of State’s explicit instructions on how to handle such ballots. Voters who submit improperly dated ballots are legally allowed to cast provisional ballots at their polling location on Election Day.”
Background
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that state election officials should not count ballots that don’t have the outer envelope dated. However, certain counties in Pennsylvania are not following the most recent Department of State guidance on how to handle these ballots and are not allowing voters in some instances a chance to correct these mistakes or cast provisional ballots instead at their polling places.
All Voting is Local fights to eliminate needless and discriminatory barriers to voting before they happen, to build a democracy that works for us all. For more information about All Voting is Local, visit https://allvotingislocal.org and follow us on Twitter @votingislocal.