Election officials in Pennsylvania are backing down from their decisions to continue counting ballots that were previously disqualified after the state Supreme Court ruled for a third time that they cannot be counted.

The decision is a win for the Republican Senate candidate, Dave McCormick, who appears to be on track to unseat the incumbent Democratic senator, Bob Casey.

On Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court instructed election officials not to count ballots that had missing or incorrect dates on the return envelope for mail-in ballots. The court had previously ruled that ballots with those issues could not be counted. However, officials in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County voted to count them anyway in the recount effort.

The court’s ruling Monday specifically mentioned those three counties, saying, “All Respondents, including the Boards of Elections in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County, SHALL COMPLY with the prior rulings of this Court.”

After the order, election officials in two out of the three counties said they would comply and would not count the ballots. 

The Democratic chairman of the Bucks County board, Robert Harvie Jr., decried “rhetoric and innuendo” about the panel’s decision to vote to count disqualified ballots and the claims that commissioners were “attempting to sway the outcome of an election by choosing to count certain mail-in and provisional ballots.”

Mr. Harvie said the state Supreme Court’s Monday ruling  provides “precisely the clarity we were seeking from the courts in this matter.” He added the board would comply with the court order. 

He also defended the decision to try to count the ballots as he noted that there were 407 mail-in ballots that would have been counted, with 225 for Mr. Casey and 182 for Mr. McCormick.

“These numbers make clear, as has been known by both parties, that these votes were never going to alter the outcome of this race,” Mr. Harvie said. 

Bucks County commissioners were criticized after a meeting last week when another Democrat on the board, Diane Ellis-Marseglia, was seen on video saying that “we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country” as she defended the decision to count contested ballots. 

While the ballots in Bucks County alone were likely not enough to alter the outcome of the election, as roughly 17,000 votes separate the two candidates, the Associated Press noted that there were thousands of ballots with similar date issues throughout the state, which could impact the outcome if counties chose to count them. 

Meanwhile, a Democratic commissioner on the Montgomery County board, Neil Makhija, said in a statement he would “respect the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinion, which, unfortunately, means that thousands of votes cast by lawfully registered citizens will be thrown out in this election.”

A Democratic commissioner in Philadelphia County, Lisa Deeley, said in a statement that the ruling was “being reviewed by our lawyers.” However, she added, “Regardless of next steps, I will continue to fight, through every viable legal avenue, to make sure that we are enfranchising eligible voters, not disenfranchising.”

Pennsylvania will still conduct a recount due to state law that requires one when a race is separated by one-half of one percent, which will have to be completed by November 27.

The AP previously called the Senate race for Mr. McCormick even though at the time it made the call there were more than 91,000 votes left to be counted. However, it was projected that Mr. Casey would not be able to make up the difference.