The Republican National Committee asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to take up its challenge to Pennsylvania's mail-ballot dating requirement.
The RNC urged the justices to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that said tossing undated or misdated mail ballots violates the Constitution.
The petition seeks review of an Aug. 26, 2025, decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Eakin v. Adams County Board of Elections, which affirmed a lower court order blocking Pennsylvania counties from discarding otherwise valid mail-in ballots solely because the voter left the handwritten date blank or wrote the wrong date on the return envelope.
In the case, Pennsylvania voter Bette Eakin challenged the dating rule after her mailed 2022 ballot was rejected.
She was joined in the litigation by groups affiliated with the Democratic Party and a Pennsylvania teachers union.
The RNC intervened on the defense side, arguing that the date rule is a legitimate safeguard in elections.
RNC Chair Joe Gruters said the requirement is "a simple, commonsense safeguard that protects the integrity of the state's elections" and that "counting ballots that are missing basic requirements like a date violates Pennsylvania law and undermines confidence in elections."
The Supreme Court's online docket for a related RNC application showed Justice Samuel Alito granted the RNC extra time to file a petition for certiorari, extending the deadline to Feb. 11.
A copy of the petition can be found here.
The Hill's report also cited language from Judge Emil Bove of the 3rd Circuit in a post-decision dissent in the case, arguing that the dating step is minimal.
"For a voter with a functioning pen, sufficient ink, and average hand dexterity, this should take less than five seconds," Bove wrote.
Bove was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed in 2025, according to the Federal Judicial Center.
The Supreme Court previously declined to intervene in a different Pennsylvania mail ballot dating dispute when it denied review on Jan. 21, 2025, in Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP v. Schmidt, No. 24-363, leaving in place a 3rd Circuit ruling that let Pennsylvania reject mail ballots with missing or incorrect handwritten envelope dates against a statutory challenge under the Civil Rights Act's "materiality provision."
The RNC petition arrives as the justices prepare to hear a separate election-administration case about whether federal law allows states to count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day if they were cast in time.
That case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, has been set for oral argument on March 23.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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