Pennsylvania’s practice of comparing signatures on submitted absentee ballots to those on ballot applications should be barred from the November election as unconstitutional, the state’s League of Women Voters says in a federal suit filed Friday.
The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania closely tracks one the League of Women Voters of Ohio lodged against Ohio election officials last week.
Like Ohio, Pennsylvania allows universal absentee voting, but voters must first sign and submit an application for a mail-in ballot. County election officials compare the signatures on the ballot applications to the ballots themselves, but allegedly don’t have consistent practices for notifying voters about potential deficiencies in their cast ballots.
Election officials also aren’t trained in handwriting analysis, yet can invalidate an individual’s vote based on perceived differences in handwriting, according to the voting group’s complaint.
About 1.5 million Pennsylvanians voted by mail during the June 2020 primary, and more than 26,500 of those ballots were tossed out, many for penmanship-related problems, the League says.
The League anticipates a spike in absentee voting in November, as Pennsylvanians try to avoid spreading or catching Covid-19 by casting their ballots in person.
The inconsistencies in ballot processing practices from county to county threaten to unduly burden state residents’ fundamental right to vote in November if the court doesn’t order Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and other officials to create uniform standards, according to the League.
The voting group also wants the court to block local election officials from invalidating ballots based on perceived handwriting differences.
A judge hasn’t yet been assigned to the case in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Boockvar has also been sued by President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign over its mail-in voting practices.
The campaign seeks to limit plans to expand the use of ballot drop-boxes and mobile ballot collection centers. It says those collection methods will undermine the legitimacy of the election and increase the risk of fraud.
Causes of Action: First and 14th Amendments; 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Relief: Declaratory and injunctive relief; costs and fees.
Response: Boockvar’s office declined to comment on the suit.
Attorneys: The Campaign Legal Center and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP represent the plaintiffs.
The case is League of Women Voters of Pa. v. Boockvar, E.D. Pa., No. 20-cv-03850, complaint filed 8/7/20.
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