Kelly v. Commonwealth, No. 620 MD 2020 (Pa. S. Ct.) – Act 77 Challenge Dismissed on Laches Despite Meritorious Constitutional Question (PA)

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed with prejudice a challenge to the constitutionality of Act 77 (which authorized universal no-excuse mail-in voting) on the doctrine of laches, ruling that petitioners had waited over a year after the law’s enactment, and until after the election, to file their facial constitutional challenge. However, Pennsylvania courts had previously held pre-election challenges to Act 77 to be premature, creating the identical ripeness/mootness squeeze documented in Georgia. The constitutional question – whether Act 77 violated Article VII, Section 14 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which authorized absentee voting only for defined categories – was never adjudicated on its merits by any Pennsylvania court.