A Republican candidate for a county judgeship in Pennsylvania has brought his election battle to the Supreme Court in a fight that could affect statewide elections and the fate of undated mail-in ballots.
David Ritter leads Democrat Zachary Cohen by 71 votes in their race for Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas. Last week, Mr. Ritter asked the high court in a petition submitted to Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. to block a lower court’s decision allowing officials to count undated mail-in ballots, requesting the justices decide if the state election law runs afoul of federal law.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit had set aside Pennsylvania’s law requiring mail-in ballots to be dated and signed, allowing potentially 257 undated ballots to be counted in Mr. Ritter and Mr. Cohen’s race.
At issue in the legal fight has been the date — not the signature — with undated ballots arriving on time having been counted during the 2020 election due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state’s highest court had permitted the undated ballots to be counted in 2020 when mail-in balloting surged due to the pandemic, but the justices signaled the court would not allow the change in future elections.
The high court’s move could affect the tightly watched GOP primary Senate race between Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. Mr. Oz was in the lead by fewer than 1,000 votes as of Tuesday.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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