With just two weeks left until Election Day and after thousands of our area residents have already voted by mail-in ballots, court decisions are still being handed down about controversial election matters.

The latest occurred late last week when the state Supreme Court allowed counties to help voters fix errors such as missing signatures on mail ballots before Election Day.

The action upheld a lower-court ruling last month that denied an attempt to block counties from helping voters do what is called “curing” ballot errors.

The Supreme Court deadlocked 3-3 which means the lower court ruling remains in place. Normally the high court has seven members, but Chief Justice Max Baer died last month. Among the three voting to sustain the decision was Lansford native Christine Donohue, a Democrat.

Another decision that is muddying the waters occurred in Lehigh County Court last week when county Judge Thomas Capehart struck down a suit by four Republican voters, who also are either current or former party, municipal or school board officials, and who demanded more restrictive measures concerning ballot drop boxes.

In their suit, the four had asked that these boxes be available only during business hours at the county’s government center in Allentown and several other locations across the county and that they be monitored in person to ensure compliance with the law that says only the voter can drop his or her ballot into the box, unless there is a special provision such as a medical reason that would allow the voter to deposit other ballots.

The drop box controversy has been a source of concern, especially to Republicans who have brought several suits to discontinue the practice. In fact, some Republican legislative leaders are pushing to eliminate all mail-in balloting even though they and some of their legislative colleagues voted to implement the law in 2019 that allowed this type of voting.

Since then, millions of Pennsylvania, a majority of them Democrats, have voted this way. Many of them preferred this option, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as the concerns about the pandemic have lessened, many have continued voting in the manner. In fact, I am one of them.

In his opinion, Capehart said that in-person monitoring had not reduced third-party ballot drops in any significant way. In fact, he said, the process could have unintended results in interfering with a voter’s return of his or her ballot if the monitor interferes with the drop.

Since the county noted that it would be too difficult to hire and instruct workers in so short a time, leading to the reduction of the number of drop boxes. This could have the effect of determining whether a vote is cast or not.

Capehart suggested that education and the distribution of timely information about how to vote through the drop box process would be a better course of action. Doing this, Capehart said, would help maintain “the integrity of mail-in voting via drop boxes in Lehigh County.”

He also addressed the lateness of any change in procedure so close to Election Day. He maintained that a change would cause uncertainty and confusion thus further compromising the public’s trust in the electoral process.

Capehart added that mail-in ballots have already been sent to voters who requested them and, in many cases, have already been returned by voters by mail or dropped off in person at the county’s government center.

Lehigh County decided to delay the establishment of the drop boxes until a ruling had been made on this lawsuit. Since the decision has been made, the county announced Monday that the six drop box locations are now available.

Meanwhile, ongoing lawsuits across the state concerning technical issues involving mail-in ballots continue to be litigated. The major issue is whether the voter’s signed declaration should be accompanied by the date of ballot completion. Courts have been asked to rule on whether ballots without the date or without a correct date should be counted.

The Pennsylvania Secretary of State, who oversees elections, has advised counties that they should, but some counties are segregating these ballots until a definitive legal opinion is given. In close races, these uncounted ballots could be the difference between victory and defeat for a candidate. I strongly recommend that all counties segregate these undated or incorrectly dated ballots in case there are further lawsuits.

Gov. Tom Wolf says these ballots should be counted because such a technical error should not disenfranchise a voter, while Republican legislators demand that the letter of the law be upheld, and this law currently says such undated or incorrectly dated ballots should not be counted.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com