Federal appeals court declines to review Pennsylvania mail-in ballot case

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals this week declined to review a March decision addressing mail-in ballots after a group of left-wing organizations sought an en banc review of the decision.

The court decided 10-4 on Tuesday against rehearing the challenge, according to Democracy Docket. It did, however, remand one claim back to the district court.

Pennsylvania requires that mail-in ballots include both a date and the signature of the voter. In the 2022 midterm elections, the state did not accept 10,000 mail-in ballots due to either incorrect of missing dates. 

A three-judge panel of the court upheld the requirements in March as part of a suit from the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) seeking to have the ballots counted.

Pennsylvania's election laws have remained the subject of considerable scrutiny since the 2020 presidential election. The Keystone State was one of a handful of swing states that former President Donald Trump narrowly lost to President Joe Biden and featured heavily in his claims that mass voter fraud affecting the outcome of the contest.

Last year, the state implemented automatic voter registration for eligible residents.

“Automatic voter registration is a commonsense step to ensure election security and save Pennsylvanians time and tax dollars,” he said at the time. “Residents of our Commonwealth already provide proof of identity, residency, age, and citizenship at the DMV – all the information required to register to vote — so it makes good sense to streamline that process with voter registration.”

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.