Lehigh Times

Gov. Tom Wolf is disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision that would bar mail-in voting in the state.

The court recently ruled that Act 77, which allowed citizens of Pennsylvania to vote by mail, was in violation of the state’s constitution, according to Penn Live.

Penn Live reported that the decision comes during an election year that will create misunderstanding on how voters should vote with the governor's Department of State already filing a notice of appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Wolf said that the original law was passed with the backing of a Republican-based legislature and had robust bipartisan support.

“The Republican-controlled legislature passed Act 77 with strong bipartisan support in 2019 to make voting more safe, secure and accessible and millions of Pennsylvanians have embraced it,” Wolf said in his statement after the recent lower court ruling. 

Due to the governor’s department bringing up the appeal, the current mail-in law and other provisions will remain in effect for the May primary election, according to a news release.

“Voters who are on the annual mail ballot list might recently have received in the mail, or will soon receive, the annual application from their county,” the governor’s department stated. “They should complete and return the application to affirm that they want their county to send them a mail ballot for all 2022 elections.”

The governor's department reported that since the law took effect, over 4.7 million ballots were cast by state voters and they stand “by the use of this secure, convenient and accessible method of voting.”

“My administration just appealed and this ruling will not immediately impact mail-in voting,” Wolf tweeted. “The GOP-controlled legislature passed Act 77 with bipartisan support, helping millions of voters. Now Republicans want to strip away mail-in voting for a big lie. We must protect voter freedoms.”