Pennsylvania Supreme Court halts counting of ballots with incorrect dates

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered election officials to stop counting mail-in ballots with the wrong or missing dates on their outer envelopes in Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. This ruling comes as a victory for Republican Dave McCormick, who is leading in a Senate race against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. McCormick’s campaign sees this as a setback for Casey’s attempt to count illegal ballots and looks forward to taking office in January. However, Casey’s campaign manager accuses McCormick and Republicans of trying to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters by challenging provisional ballots. The Associated Press has projected McCormick as the winner, but NBC News has not yet made a call as the race is still too close to call. With a margin of 17,408 votes and 24,000 ballots still to be counted, Pennsylvania rules require a recount if the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. The recount is set to begin this week and must be completed by November 26. The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania filed a petition seeking a court order to stop the counting of ballots with incorrect dates, arguing that they should not be considered legitimate. The counties had decided to count these ballots, believing that an incorrect date did not necessarily mean the voter was ineligible.

Photo credit
www.nbcnews.com