Pennsylvania Can Scrap Misdated Mail-In Ballots, Court Rules

Mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania must show the correct date on their outer envelopes, a federal appeals court ruled.

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit’s opinion Wednesday reverses a lower court’s finding that rejecting mail-in ballots because they’re undated or misdated on the return envelopes violated the “materiality provision” Civil Rights Act. The law prohibits denying a person the right to vote if the denial is based on an error or omission in any registration-related paperwork that wasn’t material to determining voter qualification.

The materiality provision of the Civil Rights Act “only applies when the State is determining ...