The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear a bid by civil and voting rights groups to end Pennsylvania's mandate that mail-in ballots bear a handwritten date on the outer envelope, a requirement they contend is unnecessary and has resulted in needless disqualification of legitimate ballots.

The rule in question impacts mail-in voters in Pennsylvania, who are required to place their completed ballot in a secrecy envelope and then into an outer return envelope. On the return envelope, voters must sign and date a declaration affirming their eligibility to vote.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said Friday it will again consider whether voters should have to write the correct date on return envelopes for mail ballots to be counted.

The Supreme Court said Tuesday it won’t hear civil rights groups’ appeal seeking to invalidate Pennsylvania’s dating requirement for mail ballots, which has invalidated thousands of votes each recent election and become a central legal fight over voting in the key swing state.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a challenge to Pennsylvania's mail-in ballot date requirements. The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit include the NAACP, the American Civil

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will once again consider one of the most hotly contested issues in state election law — whether your vote should count if you fail to put the date on your mail ballot. The Supreme Court announced Friday that it would take on a Philadelphia case focused on the issue,