A federal court in Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that mail-in ballots must be counted so long as they arrive at county elections offices by the deadline, even if they are missing a handwritten date or the date is wrong.

The case was brought by advocacy groups and voters who did not have their ballots counted in past elections due to a date error. According to court filings, 7,600 mail-in ballots in 12 Pennsylvania counties weren’t counted for that reason.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter, a Trump appointee, said that counties timestamp mail-in ballots when they’re officially received, and that’s what matters. She said a handwritten date by the voter is not material or necessary.

“Whether a mail ballot is timely, and therefore counted, is not determined by the date indicated by the voter on the outer return envelope, but instead by the timestamp,” the judge wrote.

The ruling went on to say that a requirement is material for ballots to be counted if it determines a voter’s age, citizenship, residency or felony conviction.

“Federal law prohibits a state from erecting immaterial roadblocks, such as this, to voting,” the judge wrote of the date issue.

Mail-in ballots have long been available for voters in Pennsylvania, and new provisions were enacted in 2019 to make absentee balloting available for all registered voters in the state.

Millions of Pennsylvania voters used mail-in ballots in the 2020 and 2022 elections.

Mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are to be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.