The Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania Republican Party are suing to try to stop election officials in the state from letting voters correct technical problems with their mail ballots.
The Republican lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against Secretary of State Al Schmidt and the state’s 67 county election boards, would also stop voters from being able to cast a provisional ballot if their mail ballot is rejected over a technical problem.
The lawsuit argues that state law prohibits election officials from notifying voters of such errors and allowing them to be fixed in time to have their ballot counted, a process known as curing.
More than half of states allow curing for some types of errors, such as a missing signature or date on a ballot envelope, or a signature that doesn’t match the one election officials have on file for the voter. Former President Donald J. Trump railed against the process as he falsely alleged election fraud in 2020 and tried to overturn his loss, and it has been a point of contention since then in Pennsylvania and in other states.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail, and Republicans have sought to restrict mail voting in various ways, casting their efforts as fighting fraud. There is no evidence of significant election fraud in mail ballots or any other form of voting.
The new lawsuit notes that different counties in Pennsylvania have adopted different procedures for curing, and it argues that this violates a requirement in the state constitution that election processes be “uniform.” It also argues that the state legislature would need to authorize any curing process and that existing state law precludes curing because it forbids the “inspection” and “opening” of mail-in ballots before Election Day.
“The Election Code thus bars election officials from providing notice of defects in time for them to be cured,” it says.
It also takes issue with two actions by state officials: first, guidance to voters that they can cast a provisional ballot on Election Day if they believe their mail ballot was defective, and second, the generation of automated emails to voters whose mail ballots are marked as potentially defective, informing them that they have the right to cast a provisional ballot.
Provisional ballots are a standard option for voters who are unable to vote normally at their polling place because of questions about their eligibility — for example, voters whose names don’t appear on the rolls, but who believe they are registered. The voter’s eligibility is assessed after the fact, and the provisional ballot is counted if they are deemed to have been eligible.
The Pennsylvania secretary of state’s office said it was reviewing the lawsuit.
“The Shapiro administration supports allowing voters to rectify technical deficiencies so their vote is counted,” a spokesman, Matt Heckel, said. “We will continue to fight for every eligible citizen’s right to vote and have their voice heard.”
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