美国最高法院周四为计票开了绿灯未注明日期的邮寄选票在有争议的宾夕法尼亚州地方选举中，此举可能对11月中期选举中的激烈竞争产生更广泛的影响。
不顾三名法官的反对，法院恢复了最高法院的判决联邦上诉法院裁决也就是说，及时收到的取消投票，但在信封上没有手写日期，将侵犯联邦投票权。
宾夕法尼亚州法律要求选民在签名旁注明日期，尽管邮寄选票通常会加盖邮戳，并在收到后由选举官员再次注明日期。上诉法院得出结论，没有手写日期是一个“无关紧要”的错误。
最高法院没有详细说明其允许继续计票的决定，这也不是一个有约束力的先例。但这确实表明，大多数法官支持这样的观点，即因为小的行政错误或疏漏而丢弃选票会损害选举权。
大法官塞缪尔·阿利托(Samuel Alito)在克拉伦斯·托马斯法官和尼尔·戈萨奇(Neil Gorsuch)加入的异议中表示，他会暂缓上诉法院的裁决，以审查争议的是非曲直，他说这“很可能会影响秋季选举的结果”
阿利托写道，他认为第三巡回法院的意见“很可能是错误的。”
“当邮寄选票因为填写不正确而没有被计算在内时，选民并没有被剥夺‘投票权’相反，那个人的投票没有被计算在内，因为他或她没有遵守投票规则，”阿利托写道。
众所周知，宾夕法尼亚州近年来举行了多次非常接近的选举，在一些情况下，通过计算邮寄选票来决定，这些选票在不同程度上符合州投票规定。
更多:“遵循先例”死了吗?最高法院对先例的看法是如何演变的
2022年5月24日，华盛顿特区，美国最高法院大楼周围的防护围栏
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
共和党参议员候选人大卫·麦考密克在上周备受关注的宾夕法尼亚州初选中向对手穆罕默德·奥兹博士认输的奥巴马，可能受益于未注明日期的邮寄选票的计算，这些选票最终被丢弃。他以900票之差落选。
法院的决定最直接有利于2021年竞争利哈伊县民事诉讼法院席位的民主党候选人扎卡里·科恩。他落后共和党人大卫·里特71票。州选举官员表示，有257张未注明日期的邮寄选票将很快被统计，以最终确定竞选结果。
近年来，最高法院在选举纠纷和投票权问题上一直存在严重分歧，今天的决定凸显了大法官之间的分歧，以及最高法院在高风险的选举年可能面临的各种政治斗争。
Supreme Court OKs counting undated mail ballots in Pennsylvania
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday gave the green light to countingundated mail-in ballotsin a contested Pennsylvania local election, a move with potentially broader implications for close races in November's midterm elections.
Over the objection of three justices, the Court restored afederal appeals court rulingthat said disqualifying ballots received on time but lacking a handwritten date on the return envelope would violate federal voting rights.
Pennsylvania state law requires that voters include a date next to the signature, even though mail ballots are typically postmarked and dated again by election officials when they are received. The appeals court concluded the absence of the handwritten date was an "immaterial" error.
The Supreme Court did not elaborate on its decision to allow counting to proceed, and it is not binding precedent. But it does suggest that a majority of justices support the view that discarding ballots over small administrative errors or omissions would harm the franchise.
Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissent joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, said he would have stayed the appeals court ruling in order to review the merits of the dispute, which he said "could well affect the outcome of the fall elections."Alito wrote that he believes the Third Circuit opinion is "very likely wrong."
"When a mail-in ballot is not counted because it was not filled out correctly, the voter is not denied 'the right to vote.' Rather, that individual’s vote is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for casting a ballot," Alito wrote.
Pennsylvania has famously had a number of very close elections in recent years, in several cases decided by the counting of mail-in ballots with varying degrees of compliance with state voting regulations.
GOP Senate candidateDavid McCormick, who conceded to rival Dr. Mehmet Oz in his closely-watched Pennsylvania primary race last week, may have benefitted from the counting of undated mail-in ballots, which were ultimately discarded. He lost by 900 votes.
The court's decision most immediately benefits the Democratic candidate in a 2021 race for a seat on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas, Zachary Cohen. He trails David Ritter, a Republican, by 71 votes. State election officials say there are 257 undated mail-in ballots that will soon be counted to finalize results in the race.
The Supreme Court has been deeply divided over election disputes and voting rights in recent years, with today's decision highlighting differences among the justices and the kinds of political fights the court will likely face during a high-stakes election year.
