Editorial: Again with the mail-in ballot envelopes?

Here we are at the end of August, heading into familiar rituals.

Kids are back in school. Football is in full swing. Pumpkin spice lattes are heralding the start of fall.

And once more, the rules about mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are being juggled — tossed in the air and leaving people to wonder where they will fall.

Mail-in ballots are a political hot potato. Democrats support them. Republicans question them. President Donald Trump has voiced opposition to them.

But in Pennsylvania, it isn’t simply the idea of the ballots that is the sticking point. It’s more pointed.

It’s the envelopes. Specifically, it’s the outer envelope. Even more specifically, it is the date on the envelope.

In a battle now in its fifth year, there are court challenges to whether a mail-in ballot should be counted if the outer envelope isn’t dated.

Some counties say yes. Some say voters should be given the opportunity to fix the problem and date their ballot if it is in danger of not being counted. Others say that, no, the rules are the rules and if they weren’t followed, the ballot should not be counted.

Just like the counties, there are groups that support: Federation of Teachers of Pennsylvania, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, Common Cause Pennsylvania, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP and more. On the flip side, the Republican Party on both the state and national level and the National Republican Congressional Committee oppose.

After years of others running the issue up and down the rungs of the Pennsylvania courts — with one ruling saying yes and the next saying no, over and over — these envelopes have now gone federal.

On Tuesday, a federal appeal court said it is unconstitutional to not count the votes. This follows a similar opinion of a federal district court judge in March. This would stand unless reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The question is whether the nation’s highest judicial body will decide to hear the case and if so, when. Would this matter for the general election in November? Or would it pend until the 2026 midterms when the ballot is crowded with state and federal legislators?

The worst aspect of the dated envelope issue is not that it is so easily solved. Just date the ballots. Done.

It is that the volleying of lawsuits and rulings increases confusion over voting, and voting should be easy. Pick a candidate, check the box, turn in your ballot — whether in person at the polls or at an authorized drop box or by mail.