Opinion ID: 1436318
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Alleged Irregularities on the Face of the Ballot

Text: Candidates Walko and Reed raised challenges to the lower court's ruling contesting the validity of 188 ballots. The alleged defect arises from a failure to comply with the provisions of § 3063. [6] Section 3063(a) provides: (a) No ballot which is so marked as to be capable of identification shall be counted. Any ballot that is marked in blue, black or blue-black ink, in fountain pen or ball point pen, or black lead pencil or indelible pencil, shall be valid and counted: Provided, That all markings on the ballot are made by the same pen or pencil. Any ballot marked by any other mark than an (X) or check ([]) in the spaces provided for that purpose shall be void and not counted: Provided, however, That no vote recorded thereon shall be declared void because a cross (X) or check ([]) mark thereon is irregular in form. Any erasure, mutilation or defective marking of the straight party column at November elections shall render the entire ballot void, unless the voter has properly indicated his choice for candidates in any office block, in which case the vote or votes for such candidates only shall be counted. Any erasure or mutilation in the vote in any office block shall render void the vote for any candidates in said block, but shall not invalidate the votes cast on the remainder of the ballot, if otherwise properly marked. Any ballot indicating a vote for any person whose name is not printed on the ballot, by writing, stamping or sticker, shall be counted as a vote for such person, if placed in the proper space or spaces provided for that purpose, whether or not an (X) or check ([ ]) is placed after the name of such person: Provided, however, That if such writing, stamping or sticker is placed over the name of a candidate printed on the ballot, it shall render the entire vote in said office block void. If an elector shall mark his ballot for more persons for any office than there are candidates to be voted for for such office, or if, for any reason, it may be impossible to determine his choice for any office, his ballot shall not be counted for such office, but the ballot shall be counted for all offices for which it is properly marked. Ballots not marked, or improperly or defectively marked, so that the whole ballot is void, shall be set aside and shall be preserved with the other ballots. As amended 1963, Aug. 13, P.L. 707, § 19, eff. Jan. 1, 1964. As is obvious from the language of the statute the purpose of this section is to prevent a ballot which is marked in a manner capable of identification from being counted. The case law interpreting this section clearly announces a policy to interpret this section to favor enfranchisement rather than disenfranchisement. Mellody Appeal, 449 Pa. 386, 391, 296 A.2d 782, 784 (1972); Wieskerger Appeal, 447 Pa. 418, 420, 290 A.2d 108, 109 (1972); and James Appeal, 377 Pa. 405, 408, 105 A.2d 64, 65-66 (1954). In McCaffreys' Appeals, 337 Pa. 552, 559, 11 A.2d 893, 896 (1940), we stated: It is manifest from a mere reading of section 1223 of the Act of 1937 that not every mark which may separate and distinguish a ballot will necessarily result in a declaration of invalidity, but only such marks as cannot be reasonably supposed to have been made by the voter except for the very purpose of distinguishing his ballot, and which are appropriate to that end. In Bauman Election Contest Case, 351 Pa. 451, 454-5, 41 A.2d 630-632 (1945), this Court stated: Election officers would have enough power to change in many instances the result of an election if they were permitted to throw out every ballot which contained marks which were not contained on any other ballot. The power to throw out a ballot for minor irregularities . . . must be exercised very sparingly and with the idea in mind that . . . an individual voter . . . [is] not to be disfranchised at an election except for compelling reasons. . . . . This Court in its opinion emphasized the fact that `the purpose in holding elections is to register the actual expression of the electorate's will' and that `computing judges' should endeavor `to see what was the true result'. Further, in the Bauman decision, we stated at page 456: Marking a ballot in voting is a matter not of precision engineering but of an unmistakable registration of the voter's will in substantial conformity to statutory requirements. In a number of decisions following the philosophy announced in McCaffreys' Appeal, supra and Bauman, supra, this Court has rejected claims of invalidity of a ballot predicated upon minor irregularities where the intention of the voter was clear and there was an absence of any showing that the irregularity was intentionally created specifically to make the ballot identifiable. See, Mellody Appeal, supra; Wieskerger Appeal, supra ; Reading Election Recount Case, 410 Pa. 62, 188 A.2d 254 (1963); Norwood Election Contest Case, 382 Pa. 547, 116 A.2d 552 (1955) and James Appeal, supra . An analysis of these cases convinces us that unless the alleged identifying feature is of such significant proportion that it justifies an inference that it was willfully done for the purpose of rendering the ballot identifiable or where the irregularity has created an ambiguity casting doubt upon the intention of the voter, the irregularity is to be treated as surplusage and the will of the voter must prevail. We need not attempt to discuss each of the 188 challenges that are here on review. Suffice it to say that this Court has reviewed all of those ballots in question and we will only discuss those where we are in disagreement with the ruling reached below.