OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democrats in blue counties across Pennsylvania have acknowledged counting ballots that were deemed illegal in the closely contested Senate race, which is now headed for a recount, drawing accusations from Republicans that they are attempting to “steal” a seat.
GOP candidate Dave McCormick was initially projected as the winner by The Associated Press, and he is currently leading Democratic incumbent Bob Casey by 29,000 votes. However, the margin, by law, triggered an automatic recount.
Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt confirmed that the Senate race will undergo a recount, which is estimated to cost $1 million. Schmidt told reporters that the results from the recount will be made public on November 27, as reported by CBS News.
The state Supreme Court ruled prior to the election that mail-in ballots without proper dates or signatures could not be included in the official results, which is in line with existing state law. However, according to Fox News, officials in Bucks County and Montgomery County have disregarded this order and have said they will count the illegal ballots anyway.
“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia said, according to the outlet.
“People violate laws anytime they want. So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes,” she added, failing to distinguish between legal votes and illegal votes.
In Montgomery County, Democratic board chair Neil Makhija voted to have the ballots counted so voters wouldn’t be “disenfranchised.”
The Republican National Committee has filed four lawsuits challenging the counties’ decisions to count undated ballots and stated they will “fight for as long as necessary” to uphold McCormick’s victory, Just the News reported.
“Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: Democrats in Pennsylvania are brazenly trying to break the law by attempting to count illegal ballots. They are doing this because they want to steal a senate seat,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley wrote on X.
The day before the Nov. 5 election, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also ruled that voters who cast faulty mail-in ballots can subsequently cast provisional votes.
In a four-to-three decision, the state Supreme Court determined that the Butler County Board of Elections must count the provisional ballots of voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected for not following instructions properly. Voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected for lacking the secrecy envelope, missing information, or containing inaccurate information are now allowed to vote using provisional ballots, the Washington Examiner reported.
“It is difficult to discern any principled reading of the Free and Fair Election Clause that would allow the disenfranchisement of voters as punishment for failure to conform to the mail-in voting requirements when voters properly availed themselves of the provisional voting mechanism,” the majority ruling said.
Butler County residents had sued the election board after their provisional ballots were rejected during the 2024 primary. After an intermediate court ruled in favor of the residents, the case was appealed by the Republican National Committee.
A provisional ballot is cast when a voter’s eligibility is in question and is only counted after their eligibility is confirmed.
The state’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling the previous week, determining that mail-in ballots with incorrect dates or no dates on the exterior of the envelope cannot be counted in what supporters viewed as a significant win for advocates of election integrity.
In a 4-3 ruling, the state’s highest court stated that a lower court, which had deemed the mandate unenforceable, should not have heard the case since it did not involve election boards from all 67 counties, according to The Associated Press.
