GOP Sues Bucks County Over Undated Ballots, Asks Supreme Court to Rule on Philadelphia and Other Counties
Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick’s campaign, the state Republican Party and the Republican National Committee sued Bucks County over a Nov. 12 decision to accept 405 “undated and misdated” ballots.
“Dave McCormick won this election and is already participating in Senate orientation meetings,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley. “Meanwhile, Democrat officials and scam lawyers are aiding and abetting Bob Casey’s shameful attempts to steal back a Senate seat which he lost decisively. The RNC is filing a motion in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to ensure that Pennsylvania’s democratic process is not undermined by the inclusion of illegal ballots in the final vote count. Pennsylvanians are ready to move forward with Dave McCormick representing them in the Senate as Bob Casey torches whatever legacy he had with these anti-democratic schemes.”
“The GOP is also before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court asking it to uphold the law that requires mail in ballots be dated. In addition to Bucks County, Philadelphia and Centre counties, and possibly others are “took an impromptu vote to count undated or improperly dated ballots in bold defiance of Pennsylvania law and two state Supreme Court orders,” the GOP said in a news release.
“What’s taking place in these counties is absolute lawlessness and America is watching,” said Lawrence Tabas, chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. “We will not rest and will do everything in our power to make sure the law is upheld and voter confidence remains intact.”
The Bucks County lawsuit, filed in Common Pleas Court, says the law is clear, that voters who vote by mail must fill out the date on their outer ballot envelope.
“After years of repeatedly holding that the date requirement is mandatory, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court earlier this month reaffirmed that requirement,” the lawsuit said. It called the county Election Board’s decision not to enforce the ballot date law “baffling.”
“In what can only be understood as a confused or defiant action, the Bucks County Board of Elections has voted to count 405 mail ballots that do not comply with the date requirement. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has clearly prohibited this action. And to the extent anyone suggests that the date requirement violates the Materiality Provision of the federal Civil Rights Act, that too is wrong as a matter of law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has rejected that claim,” the suit said.
“Finally, the Board’s decision to count undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots in contravention of the Election Code violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and the Pennsylvania Constitution,” the suit said.
“Other county boards of elections have correctly decided not to count mail ballots that do not comply with the date requirement. Thus, allowing the Board to count such ballots would unconstitutionally create ‘varying standards to determine what [i]s a legal vote,’ the suit noted.
“In contravention of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s clear order that the date requirement is in force for the 2024 General Election, the Board voted 2-1 to count 405 mail ballots that were undated or that were dated but admitted ‘no reasonable interpretation of the voter’s handwritten date [that] would conform to the appropriate date range for this election.
“The Board did so even though its legal advisors recommended rejecting those ballots ‘based on the current state of law.’ Despite the recommendation from its legal advisors [and a warning that the county would likely be sued if it counted the ballots], the chair of the board, Diane Ellis-Marseglia, said ‘I just can’t vote to reject [these ballots]. I just can’t.”
She also said, “If I violate the law, I want a court to pay attention to it.”
“Vice Chair Robert Harvie then criticized the General Assembly’s decision to maintain the date requirement, arguing ‘the law needs to be changed.'”
Harvie called the law “pretty stupid.”
“It’s literally not possible for it to be a ballot from a different time period unless someone has figured out how to time travel,” Harvie said.
Harvie and Ellis-Marseglia then voted to count the undated and improperly dated ballots. “Commissioner [Gene] DiGirolamo voted no, relying on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s admonition that the date requirement’s enforceability could not be changed for the 2024 General Election,” the suit said.
DiGirolamo is the sole Republican on the board.
James O’Malley, the spokesperson for Bucks County, did not respond to a request for comment.
