The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Saturday that any undated mail-in ballots between Sept. 19 and Nov. 8 must not be tabulated, according to court records. Absentee ballots must be dated between August 30 and November 8. In Philadelphia County, the state’s most populous, about 363 ballots were incorrectly dated and 1,986 were undated as of the ruling. “All of these ballot submissions have the potential to NOT be counted,” Philadelphia city commissioners said in a statement Saturday that included a list of affected voters. “Voters on these rolls are strongly advised to request a replacement ballot at the county elections office.” Statewide in Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located, 617 early voters had their ballots incorrectly dated and another 385 had not dated their ballots as of Sunday. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Saturday that any mail-in ballots submitted without a date between Sept. 19 and Nov. 8 must not be counted. .AP/Matt Rourke Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz leads by an average of 0.1 percentage points as of Monday.AP/Matt Rourke “As there is no opportunity to notify affected voters by letter of this decision and their opportunity to cure, we are instead providing a list of those voters who returned ballots in these two categories: undated and incorrectly dated,” said Allegheny County in a statement Sunday. Allegheny County residents who did not date their ballots correctly can correct them by submitting a provisional ballot or by coming to the county elections office on Monday or Tuesday, but officials there worry that the delayed court ruling will mean those affected will not they will know their status vote in time. The Senate race between Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz and Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman have tightened in recent weeks, with Oz leading Fetterman in polls by an average of 0.1 percentage points as of Monday, according to RealClear Politics. Absentee ballots must be dated between Aug. 30 and Nov. 8.AP/Gene J. Puskar The snafu could cost Fetterman’s campaign dearly, as the vast majority of early and mail-in voting in the Keystone State was done by registered Democrats. As of Monday, more than 1.1 million Pennsylvanians had filed mail-in ballots, nearly 70 percent of whom were registered Democrats, according to the United States Elections Program. About 21.1% of those ballots were cast by registered Republicans, with the remaining 9.2% going to unaffiliated voters or those who identify with smaller political parties. About 50% of those who submitted mail-in ballots were age 65 or older, raising concerns that those who improperly voted by mail may not be able to physically enter county buildings to process their ballots. More than 600 early voters had their ballots incorrectly dated and another 385 had not dated their ballots.AP/Gene J. Puskar “Voters who are unable to go to the polls because of a disability can authorize a designated agent to heal their ballot on their behalf using a Designated Agent Healing Form, which is designed specifically for that purpose,” Allegheny County said. Oz has been ahead of Fetterman in many polls since Democrats struggled to get to their highly-anticipated Oct. 25 televised debate. Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May, stumbled over his words and struggled to give coherent answers, even though he was allowed to use closed captioning to follow both the moderator’s questions and the celebrity doctor’s remarks.
