HARRISBURG (AP) – County elections officials in PA rejected more than 11,000 mail-in ballots for technical reasons in the November election, including thousands that were determined to violate the much litigated requirement that voters provide accurate, handwritten dates on the return envelopes. Data from the Department of State shows about 2,600 were turned down for having the wrong date and nearly 2,100 for having no date at all. About 3,000 votes didn’t count because the voters failed to put their ballot into a secrecy envelope and more than 3,500 were thrown out for lacking a signature. In addition, nearly 7,000 mail-in ballots that counties rejected in November had arrived to be counted after the cut-off time of 8 p.m. on Election Day, when polls closed. PA Secretary of State Al Schmidt says the rate of rejected ballots fell between the spring primary and the fall general election as his agency redesigned the ballot return envelopes and engaged in a voter education campaign. The PA Supreme Court said in mid-January it will rule on whether the envelope date requirement violates a state constitutional mandate that elections be free and equal.
AL SCHMIDT