ERIE - A slight inconvenience for mail-in voters is unconstitutional, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled in a win for Democrats that challenged it.
The subject of the case in Erie federal court was part of "vote by mail" rules established by the state in 2019 that require mail-in voters to put the date of their vote on the outside envelope.
Voter Bette Eakin was joined by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Federation of Teachers in opposing the rule, while Republican groups mounted a defense on behalf of Pennsylvania's 67 county boards of elections named as defendants.
"Since there is no evidence that the date requirement serves any state interest, even a slight burden on voting rights cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny," Judge Susan Paradise Baxter wrote.
"Put another way, even the slightest burden that results from the enforcement of the date provision is too much when there is no counterbalance."
In 2022, more than 10,000 ballots were discarded for failure to include the date on their outer envelopes. The plaintiffs called the date requirement a compliance test put in place to determine how well voters can follow instructions.
Defendants said Pennsylvania's rules were helpful in fraud detection, though Baxter said that argument was unsupported by evidence.
"In the context of the First Amendment right to vote, a court must weigh the individual's right to vote, which includes the right to have their vote counted, against the government interest," Baxter wrote.
"In this case, the weight of the burden on the citizens right to vote is not counterbalanced by evidence of any governmental interest."
Eakin filed suit the day before Election Day in 2022. The previous week, the state Supreme Court had ordered election officials to not count those mail-in ballots that didn't have the date written on their envelopes.
Doing so violated the rights of people who met the simple qualifications to vote, the suit claimed. Those requirements are being at least 18 years old and a citizen of the United States for at least month; residing in the district they intend to vote in for at least 30 days and Pennsylvania for 90; and not being jailed on a felony within the last five years.
There are six instructions for mail-in ballots, the last being the date on the outer envelope.
The state Supreme Court was split 4-3 on whether to discredit ballots without the date. The minority found the requirement likely violates the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act.
A different date requirement case in federal court held that wasn't the case, but Baxter noted that Third Circuit ruling didn't resolve the First Amendment right-to-vote claims in Eakin's case.
"Disenfranchising voters for defects in their ballots imposes significant burdens on voting rights even if the effort needed for a voter to complete the ballot correctly appears slight when considered in isolation," she wrote.
The GOP has appealed the ruling to the Third Circuit.