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.

Plaintiffs in the case said they submitted their application for an absentee ballot by the application deadline, which is the Tuesday before the election, but received their ballots after or too close to the deadline for submitting the completed ballot. The lawsuit asks the court to overturn the unreasonably early deadline for returning absentee ballots because it is a violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution's guarantees of “free and equal” elections and equal protection under the law.

Pennsylvania is one of only three states in the country that does not allow voters to submit absentee ballots up to Election Day, according to the Lawyers' Committee.

“In every election, thousands of absentee ballots are not counted in Pennsylvania, through no fault of the voter,” said Molly Tack-Hooper, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which is also representing the plaintiffs. “Our laws should make it easier to vote, not harder.”

The plaintiffs also are represented by the Public Interest Law Center and volunteer attorneys from the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

The Simpson Thacher team includes litigation partner Bill Russell, pro bono counsel Harlene Katzman and litigation associates Shannon McGovern, Daniel Owsley, Stephanie Hon and Alexia Syrmos.