Why a Pa. judge says counties can't toss mail-in ballots without telling voters

A Washington County judge ruled last week that Pennsylvania voters are entitled to know when they made mistakes on their mail-in ballots — a decision that plaintiffs say is critical for upholding voting rights in a swing state that could decide November’s presidential election.

The case was filed after the county elections board’s Republican majority decided they would not notify voters if their mail-in ballots were rejected for technical errors, such as missing signatures or incomplete dates on the envelopes. And if voters called the county elections office to check on their ballot, the policy directed staff to tell the person if the packet had been received but not if it had been set aside for one of these technical errors.

More: Commonwealth Court rules in Erie Republican's favor on access to Pa. voters' mail ballots

In the wake of that decision, the county rejected 259 mail-in ballots during the April primary. Voting rights groups charged local officials with misleading and disenfranchising the people who had cast them.

Many of those people weren’t aware that their ballots hadn’t counted, which left them without the opportunity to cast a provisional ballot to ensure their participation in the primary, according to plaintiffs.

The executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, one of the organizations that filed the suit, called the judge’s recent ruling a “significant step in safeguarding the voting rights of Washington County residents.”

“It should be a no-brainer that voters are notified if they make a mistake on their mail-in ballot packet and have the option to cast a provisional ballot,” the executive director, Sarah Martik, said. “We will continue to oppose any measures that aim to disenfranchise members of our community.”

Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman said officials are looking into appealing the judge's decision.

"This is a decision where a local court has chosen to legislate from the bench — something the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania said a court should not do," Sherman said in a statement to the USA TODAY Network in Pennsylvania.

Column: How does Pa. ensure free, fair elections? Lawmakers, red and blue, count the ways

What did the judge decide?

In his decision, Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Brandon Neuman said the county must alert mail-in voters when their ballots have a disqualifying error so the person can vote by provisional ballot.

Notification is also necessary for due process, since it gives the person a chance to challenge the canvassing board’s decision to exclude his or her ballot, Neuman said.

Neuman agreed with the county that officials have the authority to decide they won’t let voters “cure,” or fix, minor errors on their mail-in ballots. However, he said letting someone submit a provisional ballot is not a “cure” but an “altogether independent action.”

Who sued Washington County?

The Center for Coalfield Justice, a southwestern Pennsylvania nonprofit, and the Washington County branch of the NAACP filed the suit in conjunction with seven voters whose ballots were eliminated during the primary. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Public Interest Law Center helped litigate the case.

The plaintiffs expressed concern in the complaint that the Washington County Board of Elections would follow the same process in November’s general election and “hundreds of voters will once again be disenfranchised.”

What did the county say?

Attorneys for Washington County repudiated any suggestion that officials were trying to mislead voters. Actually, they argued, the state-run voter database was to blame for sending people automated emails telling them the county might contact them to correct defective ballots.

In telling by-mail voters that their packets were received by the elections office, officials were giving them the most accurate information at the time, since incomplete or flawed ballots aren’t officially omitted from the tally until the canvassing board meets after an election, the defendants said.

“Plaintiffs are trying to have this Court overturn a valid legislative act by the (Washington County Board of Elections) in deciding not to offer notice and curing,” the county’s attorneys wrote. “But this Court should not and cannot legislate from the bench in such a manner.”

The Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Pennsylvania also backed the county in the suit on mail-in balloting; many in the GOP have viewed by-mail voting with suspicion since former President Donald Trump in 2020 falsely claimed the system was rife with fraud.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Why a Pa. judge says counties can't toss mail-in ballots without telling voters