DV Journal

The eyes of the nation were on Bucks County Commissioners last week as they considered whether to count flawed ballots in the hotly-contested U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick.

McCormick has been declared the victor by both the Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ, but Casey continues to insist the race isn’t over. Casey and his notoriously partisan attorney Marc Elias are pinning their hopes on outstanding ballots, many of them flawed and — based on previous court rulings — ineligible to be included in the final tally.

But that didn’t stop Bucks County Commissioners Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. Not only did she and her fellow Democrat Bob Harvie vote to count the flawed ballots, she publicly acknowledged their decision was contrary to the law.

“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” she said after the fact. “People violate laws any time they want. So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it.”

A video of her admission made a hit on social media, garnering millions of views. Republicans claimed it confirmed their belief that Democrats are willing to manipulate the law to win elections. The fact that Ellis-Marseglia donated $600 to Casey’s campaign in September, and Casey had backed two Bucks County Democrats in previous elections, didn’t help.

Bucks County isn’t alone. Philadelphia, Centre, and Montgomery County Democrats are also defying both the state Supreme Court and Pennsylvania law by including mail ballots that have no date, or have the wrong date, in their county’s final count.

The goal appears to be to help Casey close the gap with McCormick, who had a 17,000 vote lead as of late Sunday.

The public rejection of state law was so egregious that Secretary of State Al Schmidt felt the need to remind county commissioners to do their duty.

“@PAStateDept has reminded our county partners that ‘it is important to remember the history of litigation regarding undated and incorrectly dated [ballots]’ and to consult their solicitor ‘to ensure any decision rendered…is consistent with current law,’” Schmidt posted to X.

Pennsylvania state GOP chair Lawrence Tobias was more direct: “What’s taking place in these counties is absolute lawlessness.”

Not surprisingly, the Republican National Committee, the state GOP and the McCormick campaign are suing Bucks County. Legal experts agree that these ballots will be thrown out by the courts.

“Attorneys from the Bucks County Republican Committee (BCRC), Republican National Committee (RNC), PA GOP. and McCormick Team continue to fight to stop the Democrats from counting illegally cast ballots,” the Bucks County GOP said in a statement Sunday. “They filed a Petition to Review the 2-1 decision by the Democrat-led Board of Elections to count undated and misdated mail ballots in Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.

“Additionally, they filed challenges to the 2-1 decision by the Democrat-led Board of Elections to count undated and misdated provisional ballots. These decisions by the Board of Elections were against the advice of their own Solicitors and violative of the decisions by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and U.S. Third Circuit law.

“These decisions were an act of partisanship and defiance. We look forward to seeing these folks in Court for an explanation for this blatant attempt to count illegally cast ballots.”

Attorneys from the Bucks County Republican Committee (BCRC), Republican National Committee (RNC), PA GOP and McCormick Team continue to fight to stop the Democrats from counting illegally cast ballots. They filed a Petition to Review the 2-1 decision by the Democrat-led Board of Elections to count undated and misdated mail ballots in Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.

Additionally, they filed challenges to the 2-1 decision by the Democrat-led Board of Elections to count undated and misdated provisional ballots. These decisions by the Board of Elections were against the advice of their own Solicitors and violative of the decisions by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and U.S. Third Circuit law.

“These decisions were an act of partisanship and defiance. We look forward to seeing these folks in Court for an explanation for this blatant attempt to count illegally cast ballots.

Bucks County’s elected legislators also released a statement decrying how Democrats have handled the voting process overall. They pointed out that, during the early-voting period, Bucks County closed the three voting centers before people standing in line were able to cast their ballots.

“Over the last 3 weeks, both Bucks County as well as the Bucks County Commissioners have been thrown into national headlines regarding this year’s election:

• A Russian misinformation campaign, which led some to make politically charged accusations.
• A county judge ruling that the Bucks County Board of Elections violated the Pennsylvania Election Code.
• An elected County Commissioner openly defying a State Supreme court order.

“While all this has been ongoing, it has been unfortunate to see how quickly accusations have been lobbed against the legislature and not those actually in charge of conducting our elections. While we are disappointed in the actions of a few, we will continue to work to ensure the public’s faith in the election system,” the legislators wrote.

The statement was signed by state Sens. Frank Farry and Jarrett Coleman; and state Reps. Joe Hogan, Shelby Labs, Kristin Marcell, Craig Staats, and KC Tomlinson.

House Republican Leader Bryon Cutler (R-Lancaster) also weighed in, calling on Casey to concede and saying the recount is “costly” and “unnecessary.”

“Democrat-controlled counties are now openly defying the courts and the plain language of the election law to try and overturn a legal election result,” he noted.

Ellis-Marseglia did not respond to a request for comment.

A jubilant Dave McCormick celebrated his upset victory over U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.).

The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Thursday.

“We knew on Election Night we had won because the math was clear. There’s no way for Senator Casey to win,” The Republican Senator-elect said at a rally in Pittsburgh on Friday.

McCormick’s lead over Casey is about half a percentage point, in unofficial returns.

Casey has yet to concede, however. His campaign argued that all the votes have yet to be counted, specifically provisional ballots in Philadelphia.

“Reminder: there are at least 100K ballots left to count,” Casey campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel posted on social media.

Casey later said Friday all votes needed to be counted because Pennsylvania “is the birthplace of our democracy.”

McCormick sympathized with Casey on the close Election Day loss. McCormick pointed out his 900-vote loss to Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 GOP primary for U.S. Senate. He noted that Casey is “going to have to work through” his feelings about only his second election loss in 22 years.

But McCormick added it was time to “move on” and put the focus on the country’s direction. “There’s a mandate for change. That’s where my attention starts today,” he said.

It’s a race that long held the attention of the national Republican Party, and yet another feather in its cap from an excellent showing on Election Day. The GOP won the White House and flipped the U.S. Senate. It’s also believed they have the upper hand in retaining control of the House.

To that end, McCormick said President-elect Donald Trump has put together a huge agenda for the next four years. It’s expected to focus on lowering inflation, increasing border security, and reducing fentanyl deaths.

He called the issues “problems for everybody.” McCormick promised to work with state Republicans and Democrats on solutions – name-checking Pennsylvania Democrats like U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Gov. Josh Shapiro.

One issue that McCormick seemed to position himself as leader on is energy. He called on the government to get rid of red tape and “streamline the permitting process” for energy projects in the Keystone State. McCormick encouraged the state to further embrace the power of natural gas, but also other forms of energy.

“[Let’s] make sure Pennsylvania not only becomes the most dynamic economy in our great country, but also creates these great paying jobs for every single Pennsylvanian,” he said.

McCormick’s win over Casey is one of the bigger upsets of this year’s election cycle. He trailed by 13 points in the polls before Labor Day. Polls tightened to within the margin of error by mid-September, but Casey was also expected to win.

Voters apparently felt otherwise.

There are still provisional and absentee ballots that need to be counted, particularly in Philadelphia County. That’s caused outlets like DecisionDeskHQ and the New York Times to wait before anointing McCormick the winner.

McCormick’s team quickly filed an injunction against the Philadelphia County Board of Elections, arguing that GOP representatives must be present for provisional ballot review to ensure fair oversight. They raised concerns about the large number of Democratic representatives involved in the process.

“Plaintiff is concerned that … adjudication of the ballots will occur in such a fashion as to preclude Plaintiff, the Republican Party and/or their respective authorized representatives from exercising their rights…” McCormick’s attorneys wrote in court documents obtained by Democracy Docket.

They’ve asked a judge to issue an injunction to make sure the GOP has representatives to observe the ballot counting.

McCormick doesn’t foresee the results changing, despite the legal maneuvers.

“I think it’s indisputable there’s no path to victory [for Casey].”

As the presidential race comes to a close, Americans are eager to replace division with a sense of unity. One powerful rallying point? American energy. Polls show that the majority of Americans, like so many Pennsylvanians, understand that our nation’s security and prosperity are built on access to reliable, affordable energy. And the bipartisan cornerstone of that foundation is U.S. natural gas and oil – resources that strengthen our economy, support nearly 11 million jobs and offer a path forward for all.

A recent survey across seven presidential swing states, including Pennsylvania, found nearly nine in 10 voters – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – agree that American natural gas and oil help make the U.S. more secure. Watching recent events in Europe and other global hotspots, Americans also understand the inverse: Without reliable energy, it is difficult for a nation to be secure and prosperous.

American energy security allows us to be hopeful about a future built with natural gas and oil and helped by a workforce that is anchored by a new wave of workers. That includes people like Lackawanna County’s Zoey Wright, who while in high school trained as a pipe welder at energy company Coterra. Her drive represents a cohort of skilled workers who will bring energy to the rest of us far into the future.

Politicians at the highest levels are following Zoey’s lead, as a bipartisan consensus has formed around U.S. natural gas and oil. Just look at what Democrats and Republicans have said on the campaign trail: Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz – as well as former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance – have recognized that natural gas and oil are the bedrock of our energy present and future. As Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently noted, Pennsylvania is the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” In essence, we have learned that you can’t be elected president without supporting fracking.

Yet even at the presidential campaign’s 11th hour, there are some unanswered questions about the natural gas and oil role in America’s future energy mix. Now is the time for clarity, not confusion. Answers to some key questions can help.

Should Washington mandate which new cars and trucks Americans can drive – a reality under an EPA tailpipe regulation and new fuel economy standards? When will Washington fully end the ongoing permitting pause on liquefied natural gas export projects? If fracking is to be restricted as some have suggested – restricting American natural gas and oil production amid rising demand – where will they be produced instead?

An American Petroleum Institute white paper helps inform the answers, mapping five actions policymakers can take now to strengthen American energy leadership, protect consumer choice, leverage our natural resources, reform infrastructure permitting and advance sensible tax policy.

As Americans prepare to vote, they deserve to know where the country’s energy policy is going. Natural gas and oil are our leading energy sources today and top government agencies project both to be leading sources in the future. They are essential to an all-of-the-above energy approach – seen in Pennsylvania natural gas production alongside other sources of energy – that is the best way to ensure energy reliability and affordability for all Americans.

America’s energy future is bright. With Zoey Wright and others like her leading the way in delivering the energy Americans count on every day, our country’s big dreams can be turned into reality.

When Pennsylvanians visit the polls, they should vote for policies that uphold our energy advantage and future prosperity. Bolstered U.S. energy leadership and consumer freedom – big points every American can rally around.

Democrats won big across the Delaware Valley in last Tuesday’s election. It was clear that abortion rights and, to some degree, possible challenges to the 2024 presidential election carried the day. After the election, Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, reportedly said Dobbs and democracy won the 2023 election, and those issues will carry Democrats to victory in 2024.

Dobbs is a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overruled Roe v. Wade and sent abortion rights battles back to the states. Democracy is a reference to President Donald Trump and the challenges he raised about the 2020 election results.

But I don’t think that Dobbs or democracy gave us the Democrats’ victory in the Central Bucks School Board elections. I think the unrelenting and false attacks by The Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY demonized people like school board President Dana Hunter and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Abraham M. Lucabaugh.

The theme of both news outlets was that Lucabaugh, Hunter, and other Republican board members were on wholesale book-banning campaigns and were callous or biased toward students who were gay or transgender.

In my view, this coverage was so intense because the district is one of the biggest, wealthiest, and most educated in the entire state. It also had a fairly conservative board elected after bitter battles about masking and school closures during the COVID crisis.

I think the election of that conservative school board was a message that citizens in Central Bucks thought the previous COVID policies were too restrictive. And the demotion of Dr. David Damsker, Bucks public health chief, at the behest of the Wolf administration and carried out by the Bucks County commissioners also created a backlash.

Damsker had gained a large following across the state as he advocated loosening masking restrictions and early return of students to school even if they had previously had a fever.

The next firestorm for that board involved whether parents should be notified if their child wanted to be identified by pronouns that didn’t match their sex at birth. The superintendent said there would be discussions around each individual case, but the indication was that parents would be told.

How is this hateful to kids? It is the essence of parental rights that you be told about your child when, for whatever reason, they ask that their pronoun be changed. Do the newly elected school board members think parents should not be notified because they might get angry and abuse their child? Do they really believe collaborating with the child and lying to parents is a good policy? Somehow, with their allies in the media, the new board members were able to make a civil rights matter for kids as young as 7 or 8.

The media already mentioned, along with the Bucks County Courier Times, also conjured up the notion that Hunter and the others were on massive book-banning crusades. I interviewed Hunter and others extensively, and it was clear they crafted policies that restricted only very sexually graphic materials.

These were the books that you’ve seen parents stopped from reading passages from at school board meetings because they were so graphic. Any legitimate school district should not be making books like “Lawn Boy” or “Gender Queer” available to students.

So, what happens next? I like the thoughts of defeated school candidate Dr. Stephen Mass, who was interviewed by the DVJournal.

He said, “The only winners in Tuesday’s elections are the private schools, who will see their enrollment skyrocket in the next few years when parents see what policies are coming into our district.” I think Mass has a good crystal ball.

(From a press release) 

Delaware County Elections is beginning a phased rollout of new Electronic Pollbooks, also referred to as “e-pollbooks,” during the November 7, 2023 Municipal Election. Voters and poll workers at 168 of the County’s 428 precincts will be utilizing the new e-pollbooks in this election, with a full phase in of e-pollbooks by the 2024 Presidential Election. The cutting-edge e-pollbooks modernize the voter check-in process and have multiple advantages over traditional paper pollbooks, officials said.

Traditional paper pollbooks have long played a role in elections, but have several limitations compared to the new e-pollbooks.

Limitations of Paper Pollbooks

• Paper pollbooks are outdated as soon as they are printed and require workers to check “supplemental pages,” while the e-pollbooks contain the latest registration and mail-ballot data.
• Paper pollbooks have information only for voters in one precinct, while the e-pollbooks contain basic information on all 400,000-plus Delaware County voters. This means any voter in the wrong polling place can be quickly directed to the right location with a personalized printout with their correct polling site and address.
• Paper pollbooks, similar to phone books, are far slower to use.
• Each entry in the paper pollbooks must be scanned manually after Election Day, a process that can take weeks to generate the list of participating voters, often after the election is certified.
  E-pollbooks generate the lists shortly after Election Day, long before the certification.

With the transition to e-pollbooks, Delaware County Elections aims to surmount these limitations and usher in a new era of efficiency and transparency in electoral administration. Here are some benefits of e-pollbooks.

One key advantage of the e-pollbooks is the ability to check-in voters more quickly. Instead of searching through hundreds of pages in a paper pollbook, workers with an e-pollbook simply enter the first three letters of a voter’s last name and first three letters of the first name to find the record. After the voter signs on the e-pollbook, a “ticket” is printed that the voter presents to the poll workers who record the voter’s name in the Numbered List of Voters and issue the ballot to the voter. The paper tickets later can be used, with the Numbered List, in post-election audits. This efficient method significantly reduces waiting times and human error, ensuring a smoother and faster voting experience.

In locations where multiple precincts share a voting space, the task of managing check-ins can be complex. E-pollbooks make this process more straightforward by allowing poll workers to manage the check-ins for two to six precincts simultaneously. This approach minimizes confusion, ensures voters are directed to the correct precinct the first time, and maintains the integrity of the electoral process. For this reason, Delaware County is deploying the first e-pollbooks at sites that host multiple precincts.

Sometimes, voters may find themselves at the right address but at the wrong table in a room serving two or more precincts. E-pollbooks help re-direct voters to their correct polling place or room, eliminating guesswork and reducing phone calls or online searches. This feature is especially useful in larger buildings, such as schools or community centers, where voters might arrive in the gym but need to go to the cafeteria.

In cases where a voter’s name is misspelled in the records or a voter has recently changed their name (e.g., registered as “Mary Jones” but changed the name to “Mary Smith-Jones”), e-pollbooks offer the flexibility to search by date of birth or address. This feature helps avoid voter disenfranchisement and allows individuals who have undergone name changes to exercise their right to vote without complications.

E-pollbooks provide poll workers with consistent instructions for every voter situation. Whether a voter needs to provide identification, submit a mail ballot and envelope, or cast a provisional ballot, e-pollbooks offer clear and standardized guidance. For example, e-pollbooks present poll workers with a full list of acceptable forms of ID. This consistency enhances the overall voting experience and ensures that all voters are treated fairly.

One of the most noteworthy advantages of e-pollbooks is the increased transparency they bring to the electoral process. They generate lists of voters who cast ballots on Election Day before the election is certified. This transparency builds trust and security to the election.

The addition of e-pollbooks is a critical step toward modernizing and improving the election process for poll workers and voters at the same time. This roll-out of e-pollbooks to 168 precincts follows a successful pilot project at the May 2023 Primary, when e-pollbooks were used at three locations that hosted 11 precincts in Brookhaven, Middletown, and Upper Darby. Poll workers at the pilot-project precincts reported strong satisfaction with the e-pollbooks.

As with the pilot project in May, the precincts in the roll out will have paper pollbooks to use only as emergency back-ups.

Vince Altieri, a parent and candidate for the North Penn Board of School Directors, is on a mission to defeat top-down political agendas in classrooms.

D.C.-style politics on the 9-0 North Penn Neighbors for Progress School Board divides the community, hurts taxpayers, and contributes to the deterioration of public education. All statistics show that over the past four years, academics and school safety have been going in the wrong direction for North Penn.

While I don’t hold my opponents personally responsible, I am unable to get my arms around how this leadership team continues to spend way too much time justifying the results they have produced. In fact, at the last school board meeting before this important election, my opponents went as far as discounting the double-digit decline in academics by saying, “The algorithms used by ‘Niche,’” are the reason. North Penn Neighbors for Progress has held 100 percent of NPSD Board seats for the past four years, and in that time, there has been a total of four dissenting votes. Because of this political monopoly, there has been no accountability or possibility to pivot in a direction that leads to more academic and district success.

Taxpayers are paying for these declines and special interests. For the past four years, a stadium, a healthcare clinic, and other board-led initiatives that follow political party-led lines have taken priority, while middle school students have lost in-person learning time due to insufficient HVAC systems.

This year, the board is planning on having a referendum for a 9th-grade center that will include a North Penn High School renovation with only one contractor bid. While they advertise the cost of $95 million, the actual cost is estimated to be $400 million, with debt service totaling $800 million. Advanced deterioration happened while the board prioritized other projects that should have never have come before renovations.

Adding insult to injury, the board is hoping to spend an extra $319,000 of taxpayer dollars to hold a special election in January 2024 instead of waiting a few short months until the presidential primaries.

Speaking of special interests, I have been shocked to learn that elected officials are donating large sums of money to my opponents. Special interest funding often leads to special favors. I am proud to be the main contributor to my campaign along with private donors. If elected, I will owe no favors, and I will ensure that North Penn hires qualified candidates based on merit over interest. Our children deserve the best!

Elected officials who have donated to the board members take public speaking time to support the board with a warm reception from the board, while parents and stakeholders who advocate for change and betterment of their children’s education are quick to be silenced in a manner that does not often foster respect.

After having spoken at many meetings, I promise to allow parents to address the board with respect and a reasonable amount of time instead of being told in a disrespectful manner: “Your time is up.”

I love the North Penn Community and am grateful for the many conversations and support I have received during this wonderful journey.

NPSD offers a plethora of amazing programs along with engaged and committed educators who serve a diverse body of students, including my daughter. You have my word that I will work hard to make sure North Penn serves its stakeholders once again with the excellence it has been historically known for.

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Daria Novak described herself as a strong Donald Trump supporter in 2016, so much so that as the Republican nominee for Connecticut’s 2nd Congressional District that year, she put Trump’s name above her own on campaign signs.

While she admires the accomplishments of Trump’s four years in office, she’s uncertain about another four years.

“In recent months, conservatives are split approaching the presidential election,” Novak said. “It’s not about a single man but it’s about a movement. The conservative movement is bigger than one individual.”

Trump is the only declared 2024 presidential candidate, seeking a non-consecutive second term in office. That’s a stark contrast to 2015 when Trump waited for a large field of declared Republican candidates before entering the 2016 sweepstakes.

What’s not different is that, like in 2015 and 2016, Trump has made some missteps since announcing his candidacy last November that might be politically fatal to other politicians. Despite that, he cruised to the nomination and won a shocking general election victory. The question is, “Will he have the capacity to do so again in 2024?”

Novak is not certain Trump will have the same level of Republican support for his third presidential run. “There were great results from the Trump presidency, but there were also negatives to his presidency,” she said. “Some are tired of Trump’s high level of tension.”

Mike Domanico, owner of the Trump Store in Bensalem said, “The Trump base is more supportive than ever. The country has been going in the wrong direction since day one of the Biden administration. People are saying they have had enough and are looking forward to 2024 if we make it that long.”

Bruce Breton, the co-chairman of Trump’s campaigns in New Hampshire, doesn’t see waning support for the 45th president. “Trump will be the top vote-getter and prevail in the primaries if he doesn’t clear the Republican field first,” Breton predicted.

Just as Trump defied naysayers in 2016, Breton said he would win another general election. “Under the Trump administration, we had low inflation, low gas prices, 401(k)s were up, and people were prosperous,” Breton said. “People will remember the policies and procedures of the Trump administration and that will impact both the primary polls and the national election.”

A recent Morning Consult poll has both good and bad news for the Trump campaign. The good news is Trump’s margin among potential primary voters, 48 percent to 31 percent, over his closest competitor, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. The bad news is Trump is below 50 percent as a former president and two-time nominee for his party, even before the campaigning begins.

Meanwhile, since declaring his candidacy, Trump has given his critics fodder.

In November, entertainer Kanye West came to dinner at Mar-a-Lago and brought uninvited guests — provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and White nationalist Nick Fuentes. Trump, expecting West, was reportedly furious about the other two.

This is not likely to have any long-term consequences, Breton said. “Unfortunately, Trump doesn’t personally screen everyone that comes to Mar-a-Lago. I blame Kanye West for that.”

In December, Trump brought up the 2020 election and declared, “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” Not a popular stance among pro-Constitution conservatives.

In a January social media post, Trump also launched a full-throated attack on pro-life voters, a key part of the Trump coalition in his 2016 victory. “It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms,” Trump wrote. “It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.”

Breton doesn’t anticipate Trump will lose the pro-life base after being the president most responsible for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision. “That was just Trump being Trump,” Breton said.

Pro-life activists disagree. “Trump is way out of line here on life. He does not have a pulse on where his potential base is — as many believed he has in the past,” tweeted Lila Rose, leader of the pro-life group Live Action. “This kind of nonsense will be a losing political strategy for him.”

On another front, Trump endorsed House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy for speaker. Then after the third round of voting, Trump issued another endorsement for McCarthy, trying to convince Republicans to “TAKE THE VICTORY” in another social media post. Yet, the House still went through 14 rounds of voting before McCarthy was elected.

“We needed reforms that the Freedom Caucus pushed,” Novak said. “Whether this shows the level Trump has over Republicans is questionable.”

It’s worth remembering that since 2015, Trump’s critics have labeled every unconventional move by Trump as the end of his political career, Breton said.

Richard Booker, former Radnor commissioner and school board member, believes the Republican base still supports Trump.

“While there are some who are now off of the ‘Trump Train’ due to the performance in the mid-terms, I don’t think that group is a significant percentage of the Republican base,” said Booker.  “Moreover, the mid-terms were not as bad as the legacy media makes out.  Most Trump backed candidates did well.  The poor results in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia Senate races were unfortunate. However, the GOP had significantly more seats to defend this cycle than the Democrats.  (The Democrats will have to defend many more than Republicans in the next cycle, and I believe that there will be significantly better results for the GOP then).

“I will support whomever comes out of the Republican primary,” Booker added.  “My prediction is that Trump will win the Republican primary if he stays in the race until the end.   In addition, most Republican voters recognize, that Trump is the only candidate who will aggressively enforce the border.  There are other great candidates in the GOP vying for the Presidency, however, Trump is uniquely experienced (and would be limited to only four years).

“In the end, the GOP will coalesce around Trump if he is able to beat down the many lawsuits and investigations that he faces, and make it to the end of the primary.  My opinion is that he has a very good chance to win again if he gets to the general election.  Media collusion, vote harvesting and other dubious election practices (see for example, the 2020 Time election article and Mollie Hemingway’s book “Rigged”) will be his biggest obstacles.”

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One issue that has risen to the top in this election cycle is Pennsylvania Act 77. This act was supported by many Republicans when they agreed to essentially remove any requirement to be able to vote by absentee ballot in exchange for taking away the ability of voters to vote a straight party vote at the flick of one button on election day.

Democrats essentially turned the removal excuses for absentee ballots into the ability to vote by mail in Pennsylvania–no reason required.

State Senators Doug Mastriano and Jake Corman are two of the candidates in the Republican primary for the governor’s race. They have tried to spin this misjudgment by saying Democrats distorted the intentions of Act 77 and gave us the current system that many people believe is much more open to ballot harvesting and election fraud.

In addition to mail-in ballots, Democrats in Pennsylvania approved a drop box system across the state that allows people to deposit ballots that they receive in the mail into secured boxes across the state. The law on this requires that a person may deposit only their own ballot.

On April 4, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin issued a report that indicated that at least 288 people deposited more than one ballot at five area drop boxes between October 18th and election day, November 2, 2021.

On my radio show, Martin told me that he declined to prosecute anyone because only a few of the 288 people could be identified due to the mask mandate at the time and the poor quality of the video surveillance at the drop box locations. I objected to this approach and told him that much more must be done on this front to ensure that people believe in the results of our elections.

After that conversation, I was pleasantly surprised that my producer was contacted by Martin’s office, and he came on my show to announce three reforms that he was instituting or calling for. First, he wants more precise and prominently placed warnings against depositing more than one ballot to be placed on and around the drop boxes. Second, he wants the drop box at the Lehigh County Government Center to be restricted to “normal” business hours. He wants voters to believe that someone might be watching.

Finally, he will dispatch county detectives in plainclothes to periodically monitor the drop boxes. This last reform has set off some Lehigh County Democratic leaders who say these detectives are intimidating and they have to deduct from their pay for any time spent observing the drop boxes.

I believe this local battle over drop boxes is occurring all over the country and that’s why I watched the debut of Dinesh D’Souza’s new film “2000 Mules,” at an area theater with my listeners. The premise of the film, as presented by D’Souza and True The Vote, is that by using cellphone geo-tracking and surveillance video, they were able to follow a network of “mules “in battleground states collecting ballots from get-out-the-vote outfits and then stuffing them a few at a time in multiple drop boxes, often in the middle of the night.

D’Souza concedes that in Michigan and Wisconsin the “mules” they have observed would not have deposited enough votes to overcome President Joe Biden’s margin of victory. However, he maintains that in Georgia and Arizona, their observations turn up more than enough votes to secure victory for former President Donald Trump in those states.

Incredibly, in Philadelphia alone, he maintains that 1,100 mules averaged 50 drop box visits each giving us 275,000 suspect votes that could have flipped Pennsylvania from Biden to Trump.

The film is well researched and tells the story in great detail. Even if you reject its premise about the numbers of suspect drop box votes, it underlines the need to remove mail-in balloting from our elections or continue to suffer a lack of confidence in election results.

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Chester County commissioners held a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night. But the topic that dominated was not on the agenda. It was confidence in elections.

Frustration over how Chester County handles the voting process began last November following the 2021 municipal elections. The number of residents showing up to voice their discontent has only grown.

Attendees patiently waited in the Henrietta Hankin Branch Library until the general public comment period. Their main demand? A forensic audit of the 2021 general election.

“This is America,” said Cathy Ingham. “We, the people, demand free and fair elections with no fraud.”

Their lack of confidence in the election results stems from reported issues of USBs not properly reporting ballots, bags of votes being discovered late in the counting, and jammed scanners that reportedly sometimes shredded ballots.

“The problem is we had a dishonest election,” William Jack Shipe told the commissioners.

Michael Taylor, solicitor for the Republican Committee of Chester County, was in the counting room during the general election last year and started voicing concerns then. Since November’s outburst of activism, he detailed progress being made with the county.

“Myself, the Democratic solicitor, and a representative from the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania have been sitting down once a month with the county solicitor and voter services staff to go over the problems we have seen, and try to improve the system,” said Taylor.

But those talks have not led many advocating for electoral reforms to be less angry.

“I feel like I’m asking the fox to secure the henhouse because there’s no reaction from [the commissioners] at all,” said Ingham, describing how commissioners gave little response to the demands for a forensic audit.

Taylor said lingering frustration stems from the lack of an audit. Without it, he says a determination cannot be made whether the election was secure or not. That leaves residents frustrated.

While Taylor said he has made some progress on the audit in discussions with interested parties, movement in the Chester County Democratic Committee appears non-existent.

“The request for a forensic audit is nothing more than an attempt to use an audit to overturn duly certified elections,” Democratic Chair Charlotte Valyo told Delaware Valley Journal in a statement.

Despite the disagreement on the audit, Valyo said there has been more bipartisanship in the creation of new processes to secure elections in the county. “These processes further bolstered the already rigorous election protocols and addressed the concerns submitted by the Republican and Democratic parties,” she said.

Some speakers at the commission meeting recounted anecdotes of their troubles voting. Diane Houser was one of them. In the 2020 general election, she voted in person and returned her incomplete mail-in ballot to prove she could do so. But she recently learned her vote was not counted.

“Hey, how many other people did this happen to?” she asked. “My question is, why were our votes not tabulated after our votes were put in the voting machine.”

Many also voiced concerns about mail-in ballots.

“What did the last three elections have in common?” Christopher Manos asked the crowd. “We all went to bed having decisively won these past three elections. And election victory margins were whittled away by the scam commonly known as mail-in balloting.”

A top priority for county Republicans has been education on mail-in ballots. It is important the base understands the process so therefore they can have confidence in it, Taylor told DVJ in November. Since then, Taylor said, progress has been made.

“I’ve been going around to some of our local areas and just talked to them for five or 10 minutes about how the process works and what you can expect,” he said. “That’s been very productive.” As people learn that mail-in ballots get counted later, they realize it’s not about ballots being pumped into the system, Taylor said.

But other concerns remain besides mail-in balloting. Chief among them are drop boxes. The County Republicans would prefer they are eliminated, but if that cannot happen they support adequate surveillance at sites and more security measures to make sure only each person is casting their own vote.

Top of mind is the upcoming primary elections in May. The goal is to avoid another contentious count, Taylor said, and he believes the election is on track to go more smoothly than last November’s contest.

“The new policies that the voter services have put in place [do] offer more protections,” Taylor said. He added since May is a primary election there’s less concern. The plan is to ‘see what happens in May, and then continue to grow on that.’”

And while Taylor was clear he believed the county and other interested parties had been working together in good faith, he also was clear he is not pleased with the current state of play.

“We need to keep working toward protecting the mail-in ballots and following the rule of law,” he said. “I would say it’s a work in progress and I encourage the board of commissioners and all parties involved to continue to work to better the system.”

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Margie Miller, a Republican, was elected to a seat on the Downingtown Area School Board in November. She was finally sworn in at a meeting on Wednesday, March 2.

The delay was caused by a court challenge by her Democratic opponent, Rebecca Britton, over six ballots.  Last week, the state Supreme Court refused to hear that case. That opened the way for Miller to take her seat on the board.

“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling certified my election, and solidified the fact that the people of Region 4 have spoken,” said Miller. “I am very excited to begin working with the other eight directors on the DASD School Board.

“The trajectory of this election and the fact that I am being seated four months after Election Day underscores the necessity of an audit,” Miller said. “Mail-in ballots serve a legitimate need. Their validity is obviously still very much in question.

“My personal hope is that the chain of events following this past election in the school director race may serve to assist a future election decision. I am honored and humbled to have been elected to serve the people of Region 4 in the Downingtown Area School District.”

Michael Taylor, the solicitor for the Chester County Republicans, said the court’s refusal to take up Britton’s appeal meant Miller was certified as the winner.

Taylor previously said a Commonwealth Court panel of judges had correctly “affirmed the decision of the Chester County Board of Elections to disqualify the six ballots.”

While a recent ruling had three different opinions, a majority of the judges ruled the ballots should be thrown out, he said.

Britton said, “The Supreme Court ruling is disappointing. There are 67 counties in Pennsylvania.  If each county can draw arbitrary conclusions regarding which votes can be counted then our democracy is unprotected and fragile. In this case, we will never know who the six votes were cast for and the courts missed an opportunity to create clarity where the law was open to interpretation. This is not a partisan issue; this is an ‘every voter’ issue.”

She added, “I wish Mrs. Miller well during her tenure representing Region 4.”

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