A group of three judges from Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas rejected Jamie Walsh’s request to invalidate six mail ballots in his race. He claimed that the voters didn't write the last two digits of the year on the outer envelope. This was stated in a court ruling on Wednesday.
Court of Common Pleas Judges Lesa S. Gelb, Tina Polachek Gartley and Richard M. Hughes III served on the panel.
As it stands, three votes separate the party’s two contenders seeking the Republican nomination in the 117th District — Walsh and incumbent Mike Cabell — with Walsh in the lead.
The six ballots Walsh wants uncounted already were incorporated in the tally.
The ruling said the county election board properly accepted the 111 mail ballots in the batch missing only the last two digits of the year.
“To do otherwise would disenfranchise these Pennsylvania voters,” the ruling said.
These voters filled in the correct month and day on the outer envelope but failed to add “24” in the blank boxes at the end of the year.
As part of a state redesign of mail ballots that took effect in all counties for this primary, the “20” start of the year was pre-filled, but voters were supposed to write in “24” at the end.
A federal appeals court panel recently upheld enforcement of the technical date mandate.
However, the state issued guidance indicating ballots should not be disqualified due to the two year boxes left blank.
