Storm Clouds Thunder over PA Primary Senate Race – Supreme Alito Pauses Lower Ruling

Does a Federal Judge have the right to make a ruling on a State election three days after an election while the ballots are still being counted? At stake the PA Senate race between McCormick and Oz. A ruling that could change the outcome. What precedent does that set for future elections if this decision is upheld? Now the ultimate. The Federal Supreme Court now weighs in. Less than a thousand votes separate Oz and McCormick with Oz in the lead.

There is a lot more to this story than ballots that did not have a date placed on the outside of the envelope by the voter as required by law. It is the State Versus the Federal government and has far reaching consequences that go far beyond Pennsylvania. I am fortunate to live in the PA State Capitol’s news Market otherwise I would not have known anything about this clown show that has been ravaging the election boards and the court system for weeks. 

Here is the Cliff Notes edition:

A Judge at the District Court level rules that certain ballots cannot be counted, as legislated by the Pennsylvania government, that dates must be on the outside of the envelope.

The Federal Third Court of Appeals overrules. Federal appeals court say undated PA mail ballots should be counted, a decision that breaks with state courts and could have immediate impact. The old Civil Rights violation they say.

The PA State Supreme Court refuses to make an expedited ruling on the matter and decides that the case must wind its way through the lower courts. This of course throws the election into chaos.

Enter Justice Samuel Alito who pauses a lower-court ruling. The high court’s action, called an administrative stay, freezes the matter until the court can give it further consideration.

An earlier post that covers the chaos that is ensuing. 

Federal Appeals Court Steps into PA Election Count, Overrules State Courts

May 23, 2022 — bunkerville 

Enter the State Courts:  One David Ritter from Allentown PA:

A candidate in a tight race for a Lehigh County judge seat is taking his fight to court.

David Ritter is reportedly challenging the election board’s decision to count 260 mail-in ballots that didn’t have dates on the outer envelopes.

An attorney for Cohen says the votes should be counted because they were from registered voters who signed their ballots and submitted them on time.

Ritter tells us he’s disappointed in the election board’s decision to count the votes.

Meanwhile the Federal Supremes step in:

Enter the Supreme Court of the United States.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is temporarily blocking the counting of some mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania.

The order Tuesday could affect the tight Republican Senate primary between former hedge fund CEO David McCormick and celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The order from Justice Samuel Alito pauses a lower-court ruling in a lawsuit over a disputed 2021 court election in Lehigh County that would have allowed the counting of mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia had ruled that the state election law’s requirement of a date next to the voter’s signature on the outside of return envelopes was “immaterial.”

Based on that ruling, the state had advised counties to count those ballots in the race between McCormick and Oz.

As McCormick scrounges for ballots to make up the gap with Oz, Alito’s order also could freeze a separate federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania in which McCormick is fighting to force counties to count the ballots.

The state law requires voters to write a date on the envelope in which they mail in their ballots. However, the envelope is postmarked by the post office and timestamped by counties when they receive it. (Usually as we now learn.)

The lower court ruling involved 257 disputed mail-in ballots in the November 2021 race for commonwealth judge in Lehigh County. Fewer than 75 votes separate Republican David Ritter and Democrat Zachary Cohen for the final spot for Court of Common Pleas judge in that race.

Source WFMZ

Almost concurrently with Alito’s stay, the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court dealt another blow to McCormick. There, the court declined to exercise its “King’s Bench Powers” to hear the case directly, instead of having it wind its way through the lower court system.

It was a rapid change of direction from just early afternoon yesterday, where a lower state court heard arguments from the campaigns about counting the undated ballots. In questioning attorneys for both candidates and the Department of State, Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer seemed at times receptive to the argument that the undated ballots should be counted.

Source: Politico

No one will be happy with the ending to this circus.  Various election boards have been making different decisions about the ballots. Some claim envelopes have been thrown away so that to separate them now is not possible. Better yet? The recount continues. And what about the chain of custody of these ballots since the election? Don’t ask.

Certainly everyone can appreciate the chaos to our election system if one judge from one court can make a ruling that is not timely, after an election has already occurred and the count is in progress.

This is not the only chaos in PA

PA 21,000 Mail Ballots to be ‘Hand Marked’ Due to Printing Error

May 18, 2022 — bunkerville

This indeed is the best of the swamp.