An election worker continues the process in counting ballots for the Pennsylvania primary election, Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at the Mercer County Elections Board in Mercer, Pa. Vote counting continues as Republican candidates Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick are locked in a too-early-to-call race for Pennsylvania’s hotly contested Republican nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — New state data shows that an election eve Pennsylvania court decision that said mail-in ballots without accurate handwritten dates on their exterior envelopes can’t count resulted in otherwise valid votes being canceled in the high-stakes November election. The Department of State says more than 16,000 mail-in ballots were disqualified by county officials because they lacked secrecy envelopes or proper signatures or dates. Democratic voters, who are much more likely to vote by mail, make up more than two-thirds of the total canceled ballots. Many counties worked with voters to “cure” undated ballots.