Trump Camp Loses Court Battle On PA Mail-In Ballots

Law & Crime reports:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday sided with the state’s top election official, unanimously ruling that counties in the battleground state cannot reject mail-in ballots based on a perceived discrepancy in the signature on the ballot and the corresponding signature on the voter’s registration form.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign challenged that guidance in federal court, arguing that the guidance was contrary to the Election Code and, thus, constituted an infringement on the “fundamental right to vote and to a free and fair election.”

But U.S. District Judge Nicholas Ranjan, whom Trump appointed last year, reasoned that the campaign’s lawsuit was a matter of state law, not federal law, and should therefore be adjudicated in state court.

?BREAKING: Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules that election officials are PROHIBITED from rejecting mail-in ballots based on signature comparison. Nor may a party “challenge based on signature analysis and comparisons.”https://t.co/pBa0vyA9h3

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) October 23, 2020

Another win for voters in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court today: mail in ballots cannot be rejected based upon signature analysis.

— AG Josh Shapiro (@PAAttorneyGen) October 23, 2020

Voters who use a mail-in ballot have their identity verified in the initial application, often using a drivers’ license number.

Pennsylvania’s voter identification system is safe and secure.

— AG Josh Shapiro (@PAAttorneyGen) October 23, 2020