Judge Orders Primary Ballots To Be Counted

A Pennsylvania judge has ordered three Republican-controlled counties to add about 800 contested mail-in ballots to the results of the May election, ruling in a legal dispute that stalled statewide certification of the primary results for governor and U.S. Senate. The Republican judge sided Friday with the Democratic governor in a lawsuit over whether mail-in ballots that lack handwritten dates on their return envelopes should be counted. The suit is the latest in a series of legal battles over the state’s 2019 election law, which greatly expanded mail-in voting. The law requires voters to date the envelopes. But Commonwealth Court President Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer agreed with Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration that the lack of a date was a minor irregularity and should not result in those voters’ disenfranchisement. Berks, Fayette and Lancaster counties were ordered to count the undated mail-in ballots, and the judge gave the counties a Wednesday deadline to certify their primary election results — including the undated ballots — and report back to state election officials.