The Commonwealth Court heard its first arguments June 5 in a constitutional challenge to Pennsylvania's absentee voting deadline, considering defense motions to dismiss parts of the lawsuit filed by nine voters who said that in November 2018, they were unable to return completed ballots in advance of the deadline, the Friday before the election.

Named as defendants in the case were legislative leaders, Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar.

“We are pleased that the court today is carefully considering our challenge to the Pennsylvania early ballot return deadline, which is the earliest in the country by a wide margin,” said John Powers, counsel in the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.