As we learned in the Friday, Aug. 30, edition of the Butler Eagle, two voters are continuing to fight to have the ballots they cast in the April Primary Election counted.

Faith Genser and Frank Matis both had their mail-in ballots rejected because it wasn’t enclosed in a secrecy envelope. Butler County’s Board of Elections has a process for adding missing signatures or dates to the secrecy envelope, but not for handling a ballot with a missing secrecy envelope.

Genser and Matis submitted provisional ballots, but those were also rejected. They filed a lawsuit after the Board of Elections rejected both ballots, but a Common Pleas Court judge ruled against them earlier this month.

They plan to appeal that ruling to Commonwealth Court.

Part of the issue is the way state law about ballots is interpreted.

“Their position in the litigation has been that the law does not allow them to count these ballots,” said Benjamin D. Geffen of the Public Interest Law Center, who is representing the two voters. “Our position has been the opposite, that the law obligates them to count provisional ballots like this.”

As Geffen pointed out, there is real inconsistency across Pennsylvania, because decisions about ballot policies are left to county boards of election. That led to a similar case last year in a different county ending with a Common Pleas Court ruling ordering the votes to be counted, which the local board of election did.

Geffen said the goal of the appeal is to provide clarity.

“Nothing turns on these two votes. No race or outcome is going to change based on what happens in this lawsuit,” Geffen said. “But this case is really about vindicating the rights of every voter to have a ballot counted, and also about clearing up this legal issue for future elections.”

It’s essential that every voter statewide has not just the right to cast a vote, but to have that vote counted. Every county’s board of election should adopt a policy that meets that standard.

— JK