The ruling represents a setback for the campaign of President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...and the Republican National Committee (RNC), which pushed for a strict matching requirement in Pennsylvania, which Trump narrowly carried in 2016.
"We conclude that the Election Code does not authorize or require county election boards to reject absentee or mail-in ballots during the canvassing process based on an analysis of a voter’s signature on the ’declaration’ contained on the official ballot return envelope for the absentee or mail-in ballot," the justices wrote in a 30-page decision (pdf).
The verdict follows a request for declaratory relief filed on Oct. 14 by the state’s top election official, Kathy Boockvar, which centered on the question of whether the Election Code allows or requires counties to reject voted absentee or mail-in ballots "based on signature analysis where there are alleged or perceived signature variances."
In her filing, Boockvar argued that any such rejections pose "a grave risk of disenfranchisement on an arbitrary and wholly subjective basis," and do not give voters the opportunity to verify their signature before their ballot is rejected.