Pennsylvania election officials sounded the alarm that several thousands of votes could possibly be tossed out in November after a state pronouncement last week that "naked ballots" cannot be considered.
On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that battleground state officials can reject mail-in ballots that will be sent without a confidentiality envelope, which will secure the privacy of how someone voted from being seen by poll workers. The ruling revoked prior guidance that allowed counties to consider "naked ballots."
According to Lisa Deeley, Philadelphia city commissioners chair, more than 100,000 ballots could possibly be discarded as a result of the decision, Fox News reported.
During the 2016 presidential election, President Donald Trump won Pennsylvania with around 44,000 votes.
On Monday, in a letter sent to Republican leaders in the state council, Deeley urged the lawmakers to start urgent legislative steps to abolish the requirement for the secrecy envelope for mail-in ballots, notifying it could give rise to "election chaos."
On a statement by Deeley, the recent actions taken by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have placed Pennsylvania up to the issue of significant post-election legal argument, the same of which have not seen since Florida in 2000, referring to a month-long recounting of votes between AI Gore and George W. Bush that ended only after the intervention of the Supreme Court.
Pennsylvania is counted as one of the states that required a secrecy envelope for the mail-in ballots.
Deeley, a known Democrat, uttered the concern is not considered as a partisan issue, adding that it is an issue about the voting rights of the people, whether they be Democrats, Republicans, or independents, whose mail-in ballot will be set aside. Deeley uttered that as public servants, this is their obligation to all the citizens to avoid this kind of situation and the possible chaos that might come with it.
Mike Straub, a spokesperson for Rep. Bryan Cutler, a known Republican and the state's House of Representatives leader, neglected the argument that rejecting naked ballots could give rise to chaos in the upcoming Election Day, adding that the decision made by the Supreme Court was clear and fair.
As stated by Straub, the secrecy envelopes are not a new thing, adding that the guides for correctly returning the mail-in ballots were provided to every voter who applied to vote by mail. He said the rules have been available since the day mail-in voting has existed in Pennsylvania, articulating that the rule is not new to the counties as it served as a significant step in maintaining voters' privacy as agreed by the courts.
According to NBC News, a spokesperson for Senate president pro tempore Joe Scarnati failed to immediately provide his response to a call for comment.
The number of ballots that could possibly be thrown out as the result of the court's order. The upcoming presidential election will be the first-ever voting in which every Pennsylvanian voter will be allowed to vote by mail.
In the letter, Deeley stated that around 6.4% of the absentee ballots during the 2019 general state's election did not have secrecy envelopes. Based on the given figures, she evaluated that around 40,000 ballots could be tossed in Philadelphia alone.
