This database consolidates and tracks litigation concerning the effect of the pandemic on election law. The purpose of this tool is to provide an interactive list of relevant cases that can be searched by issue, court, status, and jurisdiction.
Case Details
Hamm v. Boockvar
Closed
Hamm v. Boockvar, No. 600 MD 2020 (Pa. Comm. Ct.) |
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| Case Summary | Petitioners Hamm (a candidate for the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives) and Mike Kelly (a Republican Candidate for US Congress), and others, seek injunctive relief (i) blocking Secretary of State Boockvar from permitting absentee and mail-in ballots that were submitted with errors to be “cured” by the submission of provisional ballots, and (ii) prohibiting the state from disclosing identifying information about voters who have submitted ballots rejected for non-compliance with the Pennsylvania Election Code (so that party and candidate representatives cannot reach out to help them cure). Petitioners contend that Secretary Boockvar’s guidance allowing election officials to provide such information to parties and candidate representatives violates Pennsylvania law (25 P.S. Sec. 3146.8) and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in In re November 3, 2020 Gen. Election (Pa. Oct. 23, 2020) because it allows voters an opportunity to cure ballot defects. | |
| Filed | 11/03/2020 | |
| State | Pennsylvania | |
| Type of Court | State | |
| Status | Closed | |
| Last Updated | 05/14/2021 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Vote-by-Mail (Notice/Cure for Mismatches Missing Signature or Mistakes) | |
| Complaint(s) | 11/03/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 11/06/2020: Order/Ruling, The court granted in part and denied in part the Petitioner’s request. The court ordered that all provisional ballots cast on Election Day (in cases where the voter’s absentee or mail-in ballot was timely received) be segregated and secured from other provisional ballots pending the legal determination of whether such provisional ballots are valid and may be counted. The court ordered the Secretary of State to distribute the order to county election boards statewide. | |
