Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a772_h3dj.pdf
Page Number: 4.0

4 

RITTER v. MIGLIORI 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

would be silly to think otherwise.  Think of the previously
mentioned  hypothetical  voters  whose  votes  were  not
counted because they did not follow the rules for casting a 
vote.  None of the rules they violated—rules setting the date 
of  an  election,  the  location  of  the  voter’s  assigned  polling 
place, the address to which a mail-in ballot must be sent—
has anything to do with the requirements that must be met 
in order to establish eligibility to vote, and it would be ab-
surd to judge the validity of voting rules based on whether 
they are material to eligibility. 

Under Pennsylvania law, a person is qualified to vote if
he or she is at least 18 years old on the day of the election, 
has been a citizen of the State for at least one month, has 
lived  in  the  relevant  election  district  for  at  least  30  days,
and is not imprisoned for a felony.  See 25 Pa. Cons. Stat. 
§1301 (2002).  Other requirements must be met in order for 
a mail-in ballot to be counted.  Among other things, a stat-
ute provides that a voter “shall . . . fill out, date and sign” a 
declaration printed on the outer security envelope in which 
the actual ballot is sealed.  S. 422, 2020 Gen. Assem., Reg.
Sess. (Pa.), codified at Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit. 25, §3150.16(a)
(emphasis added); see also Migliori v. Lehigh County Bd. of 
Elections, No. 5:22–cv–0397 (ED Pa., Mar. 16, 2022), App. 
to Application 23a–24a.  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court 
has held that the inclusion of the date on which the ballot 
was filled out is mandatory and that undated ballots cannot 
be counted, see In re Canvass of Absentee and Mail-in Bal-
lots of Nov. 3, 2020 General Election, 241 A. 3d 1058 (Pa.
2020), but the Third Circuit held that this state-law rule is
preempted by 52 U. S. C. §10101(a)(2)(B) because the inclu-
sion of a date is not material to the question whether a per-
son is qualified to vote.

Can  that  possibly  be  correct?    One  may  argue  that  the
inclusion of a date does not serve any strong purpose and 
that a voter’s failure to date a ballot should not cause the