Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP v. Schmidt
Merit Brief
Once the Supreme Court has granted certiorari and agreed to review a case “on the merits,” each party files merits briefs. The merits briefs argue to the Court why each party should win the case. The Petitioner files the opening brief; the Respondent files a response; and the Petitioner files a Reply Brief.
What's at Stake
In November 2022, thousands of Pennsylvania voters were denied the right to vote based on a meaningless paperwork error. They filled out their mail ballots, signed the form on the outer return envelope, and returned their ballots on time. Yet their ballots were not counted, because they either forgot to write the date on their return envelope, or they accidentally wrote the wrong date. The Civil Rights Act prohibits states from disenfranchising voters based on immaterial paperwork error, and we're fighting to make sure that every vote counts
Stay informed about our latest work in the courts.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU's privacy statement.
Summary
The ACLU Voting Rights Project, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, and Hogan Lovells filed a federal lawsuit to protect thousands of Pennsylvania voters from being disenfranchised based on a meaningless paperwork error.
In November 2022, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania interpreted Pennsylvania state law to require county boards of elections not to count mail ballots that had a missing or incorrect handwritten date on the ballot's return envelope, even if those ballots were timely received by the boards of elections.
As a result, in the November 2022 election, Pennsylvania counties set aside over 10,000 ballots because voters forgot to write a date on a form on the back of the mail ballot return envelope, even though the date serves no purpose relating to a voter’s qualifications or the timeliness of their ballot. The Civil Rights Act clearly states that otherwise eligible ballots cannot be disqualified due to such immaterial technicalities as a paperwork error.
We filed a lawsuit on behalf of eight voters from across the Commonwealth, all of whom were disenfranchised in the 2022 general election because of the state rule prohibiting the counting of mail ballots with undated or incorrectly dated return envelopes, and on behalf of non-profit civic engagement organizations including the Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Common Cause PA, Make The Road PA, POWER Interfaith, and the Black Political Empowerment Project.
In November 2023, the district court granted summary judgment in our favor. The district court's decision declared that the Civil Rights Act bars state actors from disenfranchising voters based on immaterial paperwork errors, and ordered that county boards of election update their records so that our individual plaintiffs' votes are reflected in the vote counts for the 2022 election.
In March 2024, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the district court's ruling to count mail ballots from eligible voters that are received on time but without a handwritten date or the incorrect date on the outer return envelope. We filed a petition asking the full court to rehear this decision. The Third Circuit denied the petition to rehear or rehear en banc on April 30, 2024.
In September 2024, we filed a petition for certiorari, seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of the Third Circuit's decision. The petition is currently under consideration by the Supreme Court.
Legal Documents
Press Releases
Voting Rights Groups Respond to Federal Court Decision Allowing Pa. Counties to Reject Some Mail Ballots