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RandySF

(70,613 posts)
Sun Sep 15, 2024, 03:03 AM Sep 15

Provisional Ballots Must Have Signature To Count, Pennsylvania High Court Rules

Provisional ballots cast in Pennsylvania elections without a required signature will not be counted, the state’s highest court ruled Friday.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled the state constitution does not protect a voter’s right to have their partially executed provisional ballot counted, and that state law is clear on the requirements for counting such ballots.

At issue was whether the failure of a voter to sign the outside envelope of their provisional ballot should be counted. The opinion cites Pennsylvania election code which states that a provisional ballot “shall not be counted” if either the provisional ballot envelope or affidavit are not signed by the individual.

Under the law, a county election board must compare the signature on the outer envelope to the signature on the voter’s registration form to assess whether it is valid and executed by the same person who signed the affidavit.



https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/pennsylvania-supreme-court-to-review-key-provisional-ballots-in-tight-gop-primary/

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Provisional Ballots Must Have Signature To Count, Pennsylvania High Court Rules (Original Post) RandySF Sep 15 OP
I think the same holds true in CA Old Crank Sep 15 #1
The voter must SIGN the envelope and DATE it with the date the ballot was filled out and mailed FakeNoose Sep 15 #2

Old Crank

(4,635 posts)
1. I think the same holds true in CA
Sun Sep 15, 2024, 09:54 AM
Sep 15

For regular mail in ballots. The only signature is on the envelope. When the ballot is separated from the envelope you cannot finf who voted with that ballot.

FakeNoose

(35,657 posts)
2. The voter must SIGN the envelope and DATE it with the date the ballot was filled out and mailed
Sun Sep 15, 2024, 08:05 PM
Sep 15

It cannot have the voter's birthdate or any other date. It cannot have a missing date. If anything is missing, the ballot is discarded.

Each ballot must be placed inside the PRIVACY envelope and then placed into the outside mailing envelope. If the privacy envelope is missing, the ballot is discarded.

Ballots must be cleanly marked with a BLACK or BLUE pen - no pencil, no marker which bleeds through. It's not necessary to vote for every candidacy - it's possible to leave a line blank. Write-in votes are (of course) allowed to be handwritten. But if there's any writing on the ballot other than the actual vote blocks, the ballot is discarded.

If any Pennsylvania voter discovers that their mailed ballot was thrown out they can STILL come to the poll on Election Day and vote in person. They must declare that they mailed a ballot earlier and it wasn't accepted.

Good luck everyone. Vote with care!

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