Appeals court unanimous in pivotal ruling on undated or misdated mail-in ballots

The Republican National Committee was dealt a blow by a unanimous decision of the Third Circuit Appeals Court in the RNC's effort to discard undated and misdated ballots in Pennsylvania.

The three-judge panel said in the 55-page ruling that the affected ballots needed to be counted and failing to do so was unconstitutional. Pennsylvania voters are required to write the date on the envelope for their mail-in ballots.

'Discarding thousands of ballots every election is not a reasonable trade-off in view of the date requirement's extremely limited and unlikely capacity to detect and deter fraud.'

"The date requirement imposes a burden on Pennsylvanians' constitutional right to vote," the court ruling reads. "And it culminates in county election boards discarding thousands of ballots each time an election is held. The date requirement will not protect against the vast majority of attempts at voter fraud."

The RNC unsuccessfully sought to discard those thousands of ballots for the 2025 election. The group argued that the number of affected ballots could swing some of the races.

"The date requirement seems to hamper rather than facilitate election efficiency. By its nature, it fails to add solemnity to the process of voting," the court continued. "And discarding thousands of ballots every election is not a reasonable trade-off in view of the date requirement's extremely limited and unlikely capacity to detect and deter fraud."

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In November, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered county election officials to preclude non-dated and misdated ballots from their count.

"These eligible voters who got their ballots in on time should have their votes counted and voices heard," Pennsylvania ACLU attorney Steve Loney said at the time. "The fundamental right to vote is among the most precious rights we enjoy as Pennsylvanians, and it should take more than a trivial paperwork error to take it away."

President Donald Trump has said that he intends to focus on ending all mail-in balloting. The U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the appeals court ruling if the case makes it to the highest court of the land.

The three judges of the court were appointed by former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden.

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