HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge was urged by state lawyers Thursday to order three counties to add some 800 mail-in ballots to their May primary election results, but the local election officials insisted their decisions are firmly rooted in unambiguous state law. A six-hour hearing in Harrisburg was the latest in a string of recent court proceedings about the rules for absentee and mail-in ballots, a running battle that pits Democrats who embraced mail-in voting under a 2019 law against Republicans who see inconsistent practices and widespread confusion about what is legal. The acting secretary of state, Leigh Chapman, sued the three counties after they declined to follow her guidance in response to a federal appeals court decision that handwritten dates on a mail-in ballot’s exterior envelope — required by law — are not mandatory. The votes, including some from Fayette County, are not expected to change the results of the state’s marquee primary races this year for governor and U.S. Senate, but the judge’s decision could clarify whether inaccurate or missing dates on those envelopes can form the basis for future vote-counting challenges.