Pennsylvania GOP loses again as federal judge rules undated mail-in ballots received before the election are valid

A few days ago — and it seems like a month ago — the big story out of Pennsylvania was how Republicans in the state Senate refused to seat a Democrat who was the certified winner of the race by only 69 votes because there was a federal case pending over a number undated mail-in ballots that were received before election day that Republicans argued should not be counted.

The fight got so intense that John Fetterman, the state’s Dem Lieutenant Governor, was removed from the chamber over it:

Pennsylvania State Senate Republicans just refused to seat a victorious Dem — even though the results were certified.

Rs removed the Dem presiding officer, @JohnFetterman.

I just talked to Fetterman. He unloaded on Rs.

"A dangerous time," he says:https://t.co/VPc4ungQqz

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 5, 2021

Anyway, fast-forward to yesterday and the federal judge ruled that the ballots should be counted:

A federal judge has upheld the validity of undated mail ballots cast in Allegheny County, ruling in favor of a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Senate whose win was previously certified by the state.

Incumbent Jim Brewster will be sworn in this week. https://t.co/1QiuEPgm1B

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 12, 2021

More from NBC 10:

But Republicans have signaled a broader effort to clean up the election code around mail-in ballots so that counting ballots differently between counties doesn’t happen again.

The 2019 law that vastly expanded mail-in voting says the voter shall “fill out, date and sign” a declaration on the outside envelope, although it does not say that leaving off a date automatically disqualifies a ballot.

Ziccarelli sued Allegheny County, but the state Supreme Court upheld the county’s decision to count the ballots in a 4-3 ruling. Ranjan refused to dispute the court’s ruling — despite Ziccarelli’s urging — and said it is binding on federal courts and nullifies Ziccarelli’s arguments that Allegheny County was wrong to count the ballots.

The state Supreme Court’s deciding vote came from Democrat David Wecht, who decided that the ballots should count in this past election, if not in future elections.

He wrote that a date is clearly required, but it might not have been clear to voters under a new law with ambiguous wording, questionable voter education about the consequences and a lack of precedent.