Pennsylvania needs an answer — once and for all — on mail-in ballots. The ability to use the voting alternative without a reason like being out of town or having a medical condition was given blanket approval with the passage of Act 77 in 2019. It promptly got its first test with the 2020 primary during the pandemic.

But since those first ballots were cast, it has been a problem. The issue isn’t the ballot itself. It is the envelope — two envelopes, actually. Was the ballot put in the secrecy envelope? Was that envelope put in the mailing envelope?

And then we come to the issue that has launched so many challenges. Was the mail envelope signed? Was it dated?

Since Act 77 passed, there have been five primary elections and five general elections. We have elected two presidents, a governor and one U.S. senator.

A recount to decide another U.S. senator race is underway. Each election prompts a fresh flurry of legal action. One side wants improperly signed and/or dated ballots to be tossed. The rules weren’t followed, they argue, and so the ballots should not be counted. Others argue that not counting the ballots violates voters’ rights.

Election boards, county courts, Commonwealth Court, Superior Court and Pennsylvania Supreme Court all have left their fingerprints on a blizzard of rulings and decisions.

The latest came last Monday when the state Supreme Court ruled yet again, deciding that undated or improperly dated outer envelopes disqualify the ballots they contained from being tallied. The order does not brook confusion, shouting in all-caps like an angry text message: SHALL NOT BE COUNTED.

But this ruling, like others, does not address what some have seen as the real issue — constitutionality of the requirement.

The decision is specific to the Nov. 5 election. The order is directed only at the race between Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and Republican Dave McCormick, who appears to have won the senate seat but by less than a 0.5 percent margin, triggering the automatic recount.

That means we can look forward to this happening again. Maybe it won’t happen in 2025, which is a municipal election year. It seems guaranteed to happen again in 2026, when Pennsylvania will have midterm elections for Congress and the General Assembly — not to mention governor.

This needs to be settled.

– Pittsburgh

Tribune-Review