Republicans won a major battle over election integrity in Pennsylvania yesterday, as three Democrat judges voted in favor of signature verification for mail-in voting.
The details: The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which is made up of three Democrat-appointed judges, ruled 2-1 to overturn a lower court’s previous ruling that said the state could not enforce a “dated signature requirement” for mail-in ballots.
Back up: In November 2022, the RNC sued to ensure signature verification, and the state Supreme Court ruled in their favor. But this past November, a federal court struck down that ruling, leading to this most recent appeal and judgment…
The 3rd Circuit declared: “The Pennsylvania General Assembly has decided that mail-in voters must date the declaration on the return envelope of their ballot to make their vote effective… thus, failure to comply renders a ballot invalid under Pennsylvania law.”
Big picture: In 2020, Pennsylvania saw 2,637,065 votes cast by mail-in ballot. And according to the official tally, Joe Biden won by roughly 80,000 votes.
- Translation: Even the slightest amount of mail-in voter fraud could have been the deciding factor in that race.
Pennsylvania is critical. If it’s going to allow vote-by-mail, then having signature verification is a major step toward ensuring the upcoming election is secure.
This article is adapted from the free ‘Wake Up Right’ newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
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