Pennsylvania Supreme Court halts counting of ballots with date errors at election officials’ request

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order to stop counting mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates on their outer envelopes in Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. This came as a victory for Republican Dave McCormick, who holds a narrow lead over Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in a Senate race that is heading to a recount. McCormick’s campaign sees this ruling as preventing the counting of illegal ballots, while Casey’s campaign believes it is an attempt to disenfranchise voters. NBC News has not projected a winner in the race, as it remains too close to call with McCormick leading by 17,408 votes. The recount is set to begin this week and must be completed by noon on November 26. The Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Pennsylvania sought the court order to prevent election boards in Democratic-led counties from tabulating ballots with incorrect dates, arguing that these ballots should be deemed illegitimate. The counties, however, had argued that an incorrect date did not necessarily mean the voter was ineligible or that the ballot was invalid.

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