(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court told counties on Monday that ballots with dating errors cannot be counted as valid.
The emergency order comes after elected officials in Bucks, Centre, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties overlooked the deficiencies, in violation of a previous high court ruling that said doing so was against state election law.
The 4-3 order comes four days after the state and national Republican Party filed for extraordinary relief over the counting of undated and misdated ballots as election workers begin a recount in the U.S. Senate race.
During a Nov. 14 election board hearing, Bucks County Commission Chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia reiterated her disagreement with the high court’s decision before voting to count roughly 400 ballots with dating errors.
“I think we all know that precedent by a court does not matter anymore in this country, and people violate laws anytime they want,” she said. “So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention.”
In a concurring statement, Justice Kevin Brobson reminded local officials they lack any authority to interpret state law. Justices David Wecht and Sally Updyke Mundy agreed.
“I write separately to disabuse local elections officials of the notion that they have the authority to ignore Election Code provisions that they believe are unconstitutional,” he said. “Only the courts under our charter may declare a statute, or provision thereof, unconstitutional.”
As of Monday, less than 18,000 votes separate Republican challenger Dave McCormick and Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. The narrow margin triggered an automatic recount on Thursday, which counties have until Nov. 26 to finish.
McCormick’s campaign has legally challenged the deficient ballots and asked the high court to reaffirm its September ruling. Tallies currently include ballots with missing or incorrect dates and signatures, pushing Casey ahead of McCormick by 2,250 votes in Bucks County.
Even so, the Republican campaign says there are not enough votes left in the state to overcome the gap. Chief Strategist Mark Harris said Casey’s decision to opt for the recount, estimated to cost $1 million, won’t change things.
Multiple media outlets, including The Associated Press, reached the same conclusion on Nov. 7 when declaring the former hedge fund CEO turned Republican nominee the winner. Casey has since refused to concede and opted for his right to a recount.
The campaign estimates it legally challenged roughly 1,500 undated ballots and a few thousand attributed to unregistered voters. Harris said, despite the utmost confidence in McCormick’s victory, allowing county boards of election to count invalid votes would be akin to “tying four arms behind our backs.”
“Even if they won and upended everything we know about Pennsylvania elections, we would still be leading by a real and significant and unturnable margin,” Harris said. “No matter how they slice it, more people voted for Dave McCormick than Bob Casey.”
In a dissenting opinion written backed by Chief Justice Debra Todd, Justice Christine Donohue said that the matter was undeserving of emergency intervention.
“Quite simply, there is nothing extraordinary or urgent about the Petitioners’ challenges,” she wrote.
State law requires mail-in ballots to be signed, dated and returned in a secrecy envelope to be counted. In the 2022 midterm election, roughly 10,000 votes were tossed due to submission errors.
