Butler County election case goes to Pennsylvania State Court

Voting rights groups hope the Commonwealth Court will issue additional protections for mail-in voting before the November election.

The court will decide whether voters should be guaranteed the right to cast provisional ballots if they made a mistake in their mail-in ballot.

In April, Butler County rejected absentee ballots from Faith Genser and Frank Matis. They had forgotten the secrecy envelope. Genser and Matis went to their polling places to cast provisional ballots and were rejected again.

Under Butler County rules, an error in mail-in voting meant voters lost their chance to vote.

So Genser and Matis filed suit, supported by civil rights lawyers like Benjamin Geffen, senior staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center.

On Tuesday, Geffen notified Commonwealth Court that he intended to appeal. The court then set a greatly accelerated timeline, requiring all parties to file briefs by noon Friday. The court also said it may rule based on the documents filed and will not require oral arguments.

Currently, there are different rules from county to county about what to do when voters make so-called “fatal errors” that result in mail-in ballots being rejected.

“In other counties, voters would be allowed to correct this error by filling out a provisional ballot on Election Day,” Geffen said. “The Commonwealth Court's decision will hopefully clear this up once and for all and ensure that voters across the state have the opportunity to correct this error.”

A lower court ruling said it was the Legislature's responsibility to address the issue. Genser and Matis appealed that decision to Commonwealth Court. The court could issue a narrow ruling focused on Butler County or a ruling that sets a broader precedent for the entire state, Geffen said. The appeal argues for the latter.

The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania intervened in the case, arguing against the courts that currently set rules at the discretion of the district. They did not respond to questions or interview requests for this article.

The Butler County case is one of at least five ongoing state court cases related to mail-in voting. Others are pending in federal courts. All of them are about the possibility of rule changes before Election Day.

The cases are concentrated in a relatively small group of voters, namely those who vote by mail and whose ballots are rejected. In the April primary, the number was 1.22 percent of mail-in votes, according to reports from Votebeat and Spotlight PA.

Many of the legal arguments arise from the problems election officials and county commissioners have faced since Pennsylvania adopted universal mail-in voting in 2019.

Since the legislature has not passed any changes to the law, individual districts must decide on their own policies.

Sarah Niebler, associate professor of political science at Dickinson College, believes this creates confusion and distrust about how elections are conducted and raises larger questions about participating in a democracy.

“This is a problem for democracy and a problem for elections because it undermines the concept of ‘one person, one vote,’” Niebler said.

Voters can now request a postal vote. Ballots are expected to be mailed out in early October. They must be returned by 8 p.m. on election day.

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