And the Award for Dumbest Voting Law Goes To
And the Award for Dumbest Voting Law Goes To
We love a good awards show here in LA.
If we had an award for worst voting law, it might go to Pennsylvania’s rule that says officials have to throw out your mail ballot if you forget to write “today’s date” on the ballot envelope (or if you write the wrong date, like your birthday).
The law is so bad because, as a court said, it “serves little apparent purpose” since officials don’t use the date to confirm whether you submitted your ballot before the deadline.
Sadly, the same court also ruled last week that the law is valid and should stay in place, apparently finding “the law is the law” a better argument than “the right to vote.”
If you want to learn about the interesting legal arguments in the case, read more here and here.
My goal, though, is to zoom out, place things in context, and highlight why this law and the litigation around it are so important to the 2024 election and the fight for democracy.
Let’s do a lightning round:
The case is still winding through the courts, but it could be the first voting rights case to get to the U.S. Supreme Court before the election his fall.
Laws like this tend to hurt Democrats more than Republicans, since historically more Democrats vote by mail.
Research also shows that lower-income and nonwhite voters in Philadelphia are “disproportionately affected when mail ballots are rejected over small errors.”
One of the two major political parties in America is thrilled about this pointless, discriminatory law, calling last week’s court ruling “a crucial victory” in the face of “unlawful left-wing attempts to count undated… ballots.”
Speaking of the Republican Party, while it may be true that “the law is the law,” laws aren’t permanent. This one could be amended any time by Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled legislature. Don’t hold your breath.
On the other hand, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and the Secretary of the Commonwealth he appointed, Republican Al Schmidt, re-designed the ballot envelope to make the “Today’s Date” box more obvious, hopefully resulting in fewer voter errors. This a nice reminder that we have more tools than just the courts to protect voters.
This one has everything you need to know about the fight for democracy in 2024: A law with no purpose except to disenfranchise voters. A court bending over backward to uphold the law. The Republican Party gleeful over that ruling. Good people on the other side fighting a multi-front battle to minimize the fallout.
We have 217 days until the election and 281 days until January 6, 2025. Stick around! Subscribe to this newsletter. If you know Pennsylvanians, send them to vote.org for the current voting rules.
We have a lot of fighting left to do.