{"id":111676,"date":"2026-02-12T02:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/111676\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T02:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:52:14","slug":"rnc-asks-supreme-court-to-take-up-pennsylvania-mail-ballot-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/111676\/","title":{"rendered":"RNC asks Supreme Court to take up Pennsylvania mail ballot fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Republican National Committee (RNC)\u00a0petitioned the<\/a> Supreme Court\u00a0on Wednesday\u00a0to reverse a\u00a0ruling\u00a0that requires\u00a0Pennsylvania to count undated and misdated mail-in ballots, saying its logic\u00a0transforms\u00a0the\u00a0courts into \u201cweapons of political warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technical requirements for Pennsylvania mail ballots have been the subject of extensive\u00a0litigation<\/a> ever since the state passed\u00a0universal mail voting in\u00a02019.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0battle only\u00a0heightened by\u00a0the\u00a0Keystone\u00a0State\u2019s\u00a0outsized role as a swing state in presidential contests.\u00a0Disputed mail ballots in Pennsylvania have\u00a0totaled\u00a0thousands in recent elections.<\/p>\n

The RNC\u2019s petition urges the justices to review an appeals ruling\u00a0from last\u00a0August<\/a>, which found the state\u2019s\u00a0instruction to not count ballots that lack a proper date on the outer return envelope\u00a0imposes an unconstitutional burden on\u00a0Pennsylvanians\u2019 right to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cPennsylvania\u2019s mail-in ballot dating requirement is a simple, commonsense safeguard\u00a0that protects the integrity of the state\u2019s elections,\u201d RNC\u00a0Chair\u00a0Joe Gruters said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCounting ballots that are missing basic requirements like a date violates Pennsylvania law and undermines confidence in elections,\u201d Gruters continued. \u201cWe urge the Supreme Court to take this case and reaffirm that states can enforce reasonable election rules like Pennsylvania\u2019s date requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RNC said the petition was filed Wednesday. It has not yet been posted to the court\u2019s public docket, which often takes several days.<\/p>\n

The justices will review the RNC\u2019s request at a closed-door meeting in the coming months. The Supreme Court only agrees to take up roughly 1\u00a0to 2 percent of the\u00a0cases it receives.<\/p>\n

The RNC\u2019s\u00a0argument latches on to sentiments advanced by U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove, a former criminal defense attorney to President Trump\u00a0whom he tapped last year for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd\u00a0Circuit.\u00a0Bove wanted to reconsider the lower ruling, but his colleagues outvoted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a voter with a functioning pen, sufficient ink, and average hand dexterity, this should take less than five seconds,\u201d Bove wrote of the state\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n

The appeal stems from a challenge brought by Pennsylvania resident Bette Eakin, whose mail ballot was rejected in 2022. She\u2019s joined by entities affiliated with the Democratic Party and a teacher\u2019s union.<\/p>\n

At the center of the battle is a legal balancing test courts use to\u00a0determine\u00a0if a\u00a0state\u2019s\u00a0election law unconstitutionally\u00a0burdens\u00a0a person\u2019s right to vote. The RNC\u2019s appeal urges the justices to rein in the test, saying lower judges are improperly intervening in election disputes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt bottom, the Anderson-Burdick framework permits federal courts to engage in freewheeling judicial balancing and arrive at whatever conclusion they prefer when adjudicating a challenge to a\u00a0State\u2019s\u00a0voting rule,\u201d the RNC wrote.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has\u00a0declined to get involved previously<\/a>\u00a0in the fight over\u00a0Pennsylvania\u2019s mail ballot\u00a0dating\u00a0requirement, but\u00a0that\u00a0effort\u00a0involved\u00a0a\u00a0separate lawsuit\u00a0and\u00a0different\u00a0legal arguments.<\/p>\n

Already this term, the court has agreed to review a\u00a0case involving the RNC and mail voting.<\/p>\n

On March 23, the justices will hear\u00a0arguments in\u00a0Mississippi\u2019s bid to\u00a0count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day<\/a>. The RNC\u00a0convinced a lower court to invalidate the state\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republican National Committee (RNC)\u00a0petitioned the Supreme Court\u00a0on Wednesday\u00a0to reverse a\u00a0ruling\u00a0that requires\u00a0Pennsylvania to count undated and misdated mail-in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[53361,8464,28,30,6576,29,34000,13813,5018],"class_list":{"0":"post-111676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-mail-ballot","9":"tag-mail-ballots","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","12":"tag-pennsylvania-law","13":"tag-pennsylvania-news","14":"tag-republican-national-committee","15":"tag-requirements","16":"tag-supreme-court"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}