Election boards in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties may not invalidate mail-in ballots because they lack accurate, handwritten dates on their exterior return envelopes. That decision was made on Monday by a federal judge, in the latest of a long running legal dispute over a small percentage of votes cast in the state. U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter wrote that most counties did not try to argue that the exterior dates, which are not used to show whether a ballot was received in time, serve an important state interest in regulating voting. The Republican National Committee, along with Berks County had argued the dates help combat voting fraud. RNC spokesperson Abigail Jackson said they will appeal the decision. She described the external envelope signature as a common-sense safeguard.
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