BPEP v. Schmidt – Amicus Brief, Pennsylvania Supreme Court
On September 4, the State Democracy Research Initiative submitted an amicus brief in BPEP v. Schmidt, a case pending before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The brief is on behalf of six legal scholars with nationally recognized expertise in state constitutional law, state and local government law, and the law of democracy.
The case involves a state constitutional challenge to the practice of excluding timely-received absentee ballots which lack a correct written date on the return envelope. The plaintiffs argue that this exclusionary practice violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Free and Fair Elections Clause. A Pennsylvania trial court agreed and blocked the practice. The brief, filed in support of the plaintiffs, urges the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to affirm the trial court and hold that the bedrock democratic commitments of the Pennsylvania Constitution make it improper to exclude ballots based on immaterial technical errors. The brief also explains that numerous state courts around the country have similarly rejected laws and practices that create needless barriers to electoral participation.
The group of legal scholars includes Jessica Bulman-Pozen (Columbia Law School), Jerry Dickinson (University of Pittsburgh School of Law), Miriam Seifter (University of Wisconsin Law School), Robert F. Williams (Rutgers University School of Law), Robert Yablon (University of Wisconsin Law School), and Quinn Yeargain (Michigan State University College of Law). Staff Attorney Adam Sopko contributed to this brief.