Justices to sort out if mail-in ballot envelopes need dates

By: Mark Scolforo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Senior Pennsylvania elections officials argued in a new court filing Tuesday that handwritten dates on the envelopes that many state voters use to mail in ballots should not be deemed mandatory, in part because of a half-century-old legislative ruling deemphasizing their importance.

The filing, made under a compressed schedule laid out just four days earlier by the state Supreme Court, concerns a dispute that has repeatedly arisen in state courts since lawmakers made mail-in voting widely allowable three years ago: whether ballots with incorrect or missing dates on their return envelopes can be disqualified.

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