Senator-Elect David McCormick (R-Penn.) is suing the Bucks County Board of Elections, alleging the board illegally accepted more than 400 mail-in ballots that were misdated or undated in the 2024 election.
The three Bucks County commissioners on the board reportedly voted 2-1 along party lines to accept the mail-in ballots at a meeting on Thursday. “Democrats Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Robert Harvie voted to count them, minority commissioner Gene DiGirolamo voted no,” Phillyburbs reported.
The county’s Deputy Solicitor Daniel Grieser had recommended that the board reject the ballots, warning them that they would likely face a lawsuit if they voted to accept the botched votes.
But the Democrats on the board said it would be “stupid” not to count them.
“It’s a pretty stupid thing not to count someone’s vote because they didn’t date a ballot when we know when it was printed, when it was received and it’s not possible to be a different ballot,” Harvie said. “This is one of those issues where I think its intentionally disenfranchising people.”
The Pennsylvania GOP went before the State Supreme Court Thursday morning to ask the Bucks County Common Pleas judge to reverse the board’s decision.
The GOP argued in the filing that the board should not have counted undated and misdated ballots because they are considered “invalid as a matter of law.” The Republicans cited a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision ruling that the date requirement “shall” be applied to the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election.
Marseglia argued that “precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country. And people violate laws anytime they want. For me if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it.”
“The board’s baffling decision not to enforce the date requirement and to count noncompliant ballots thus directly contravenes binding Pennsylvania law,” the appeal said.
“While Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick currently holds an insurmountable lead of nearly 30,000 votes over his Democrat opponent Bob Casey, numerous County Boards of Elections including Philadelphia, Bucks, Centre and potentially others took an impromptu vote to count undated or improperly dated mail-in ballots, in bold defiance of Pennsylvania law, and two State Supreme Court orders,” the PA GOP said in an press release Thursday.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last Thursday when it looked like Casey had no path to victory. The Republican’s lead over Casey is razor thin and Democrats are doing everything they can to scrounge up more votes for the incumbent senator, who has not yet conceded.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, announced Wednesday night that the tight race had triggered an automatic recount.
With 99 percent reporting as of Thursday afternoon, McCormick had 3,385,87million votes, or 48.90 percent, compared to Casey’s 3,360,504 million 48.53 percent, a difference of 26,083 votes.
Casey has about a 1,200-vote advantage in Bucks County over McCormick, according to Phillyburbs.
Solicitor Grieser warned the board it could face additional court appeals as a result of decisions Thursday including one to count 125 provisional ballots missing either a judge of election or minority inspector signature.
Attorney Dawn Burke, representing Democrats, told the board that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in its recent rulings did not consider the due-process argument, where mistakes made by election workers essentially disenfranchised valid voters who followed the proper steps to vote.
GOP attorney Walter Zimolong countered that the recent state supreme court decisions clearly ruled “these types of ballots should not count.”
“We all know precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” Ellis-Marseglia said. “If I violate this law, it’s because I want the court to pay attention. There is nothing more important than counting votes.”
Democrats even attempted to have 217 provisional ballots counted that were rejected because the voters were not registered to vote, or weren’t registered in Bucks County.
Burke presented spreadsheet analysis showed the voters were listed as registered voters with state Democratic Party registration records, though she did not know how many were registered in Bucks County.
In its unanimous vote to reject the challenge, the board noted that the election board workers would conduct another review the 217 names with its voter records and if any registered valid Bucks County voters are found, the party can appeal.
The vote counting is continuing as well, the Bucks County Board of Elections received about 2,400 overseas and military ballots by the Tuesday deadline. Those ballots will be hand reviewed and added to vote totals, according to Bucks County spokesman James O’Malley.
“What’s taking place in these counties is absolute lawlessness and America is watching,” said Lawrence Tabas, chairman of the PA Republican Party, in a statement Thursday. “We will not rest and will do everything in our power to make sure that the law is upheld and voter confidence remains intact.”
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