The Pennsylvania Supreme Court halted an effort to allow mail-in ballots without a handwritten date to be counted in the 2024 election.

The ruling overturns a Commonwealth Court decision that found a state law requiring a handwritten date was unconstitutional. He Pennsylvania Republican Party appealed that ruling to the state supreme court and now undated mail-in ballots will not be counted in the next election.

Judge Kevin Dougherty admonished the Commonwealth Court for its ruling in a strongly worded opinion regarding Friday’s ruling.

“‘This Court will not impose or tolerate substantial modifications to existing laws and procedures pending an ongoing election.’ We said those carefully chosen words just a few weeks ago, yet they apparently went unheard in the Commonwealth Court, the same court where most of the election litigation is taking place,” Dougherty wrote.

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Mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania must contain a handwritten date in order to be counted in the 2024 election, following the state’s supreme court ruling. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

“Today’s order, to which I join, rights the ship. And sends a strong message to all courts in this Commonwealth: by declaring that we would not tolerate substantial modifications to existing laws and procedures pending an ongoing election “We said what I meant and I meant what we said,” he continued.

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Pennsylvania Republicans praised Friday’s ruling and said Democrats have repeatedly tried to subvert the appointment requirement.

“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the law, and the ballot date requirement will be in effect for this election. Democrats have repeatedly tried to remove this important safeguard from the ballot, and we have stopped them each time,” the president said of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley, in a statement. . “We are committed to protecting critical ballot safeguards to ensure every ballot is cast and counted correctly, and we will continue to fight across Pennsylvania to protect the vote.”

Stickers and a sign supporting U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris are displayed outside the Bucks County Administration building, on-demand voting and ballot delivery center in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on October 31, 2024. (Ed. JONES/AFP)

State officials who favor allowing undated ballots to be counted argue the change would make the process easier for poll workers. The Pennsylvania Department of State filed a brief in favor of the change before the court’s ruling on Friday.

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“The requirement that county boards set aside mail-in ballots with errors in the declaration date, and in particular the requirement that they set aside mail-in ballot envelopes with ‘incorrect’ dates, imposed a significant burden on the county boards. Election workers must manually review each ballot envelope to determine if it has a ‘correct’ date,” the letter said, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

Republicans and Democrats are fighting over electoral policies as Americans head to the polls. (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

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Friday’s ruling was the second time this month that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has blocked Democratic-backed efforts to dismantle the dating requirement.