Despite Litigation, PA Counties Use Different Standards To Reject Mail-In Ballots

Senior Assistant Montgomery County solicitor John Marlett said some 474 Montgomery County primary voters returned ballots with the wrong date.

“The year was either missing or incorrect,” he said. The Board of Elections then voted 2-1 to accept ballots without a year or the incorrect year. However, neighboring Delaware County adopted the opposite policy.

Marlett told the Montgomery County Board of Elections on Friday that the secretary of state’s guidance says a missing or incorrect year does not disqualify the ballot, leaving it up to county boards of election. The state issued that advice despite the fact that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals found wrong dates disqualified the ballots.

Montgomery County Board of Elections Chair Neil Makhija, a Democrat, said the policy of accepting incorrectly dated ballots was implemented during the North Penn special election and “the year [on the ballot] doesn’t provide any sort of security or validation.”




https://delawarevalleyjournal.com/despite-litigation-pa-counties-use-different-standards-to-reject-mail-in-ballots/