Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rejects Rule To Discount Ballots Due To Signatures Mismatch

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2020) The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled unanimously that mail ballots and applications can not be challenged or rejected because of signature mismatches, a court filing revealed.

"For all of the aforementioned reasons, we grant the Secretary's petition for declarative relief, and hold that county boards of elections are prohibited from rejecting absentee or mail-in ballots based on signature comparison conducted by county election officials or employees, or as the result of third-party challenges based on signature analysis and comparisons," Judge Debra Todd wrote in the court's opinion on Friday.

Last month, Pennsylvania issued guidance following as per that interpretation of the law, prompting the Trump campaign to challenge it in Federal court as being unconstitutional. The court dismissed the lawsuit earlier in October.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar asked the state's top court to affirm the legality of her directive on ballot rejections.