Gazette (A)
Bucks County commissioners voted to count ballots lacking proper signatures, violating a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.
The three-member board voted two to one to count these illegal ballots in the Senate race recount.
“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn't matter anymore in this country, and people violate laws anytime they want,” Diane Marseglia said. “So for me, if I violate this law, it's because I want a court to pay attention to it.”
Board chairman Robert Harviie, Jr., joined Marseglia in voting to accept the ballots that voters signed in one section but not another. Democrats challenged the decision not to count the ballots, placing the blame for the mistake on poll workers who did not double-check the provisional ballots before accepting them.
The board's legal team suggested the commissioners reject the ballots because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had given clear guidance about signatures being required for votes to count.
There were approximately 124 ballots that would not count because of missing signatures.
Republican Sen.-elect David McCormick won 48.93% of the vote and Democratic incumbent Bob Casey captured 48.50% of the vote, thus triggering a recount.
However, as of Wednesday, there are approximately 80,000 left to be counted, including 20,000 mail-in and absentee ballots and around 60,000 provisional ballots.
Counties must begin their recount on Nov. 20 and have until Nov. 27 to report their results to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Casey, the third-term Senator, has not yet conceded the race.
Philadelphia City Commissioners also voted to count a "relatively small number of undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots."
"Republicans filed a petition to the PA Supreme Court against all counties to attempt to stop all counties from counting these ballots," Philadelphia City Commissioners said in a statement to Fox News. "They also filed a statutory appeal challenging Bucks County’s decision to count undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots. We are reviewing the filings."
An RNC official told Fox News that the decisions made by the county election boards were “ridiculous.” The GOP has filed two lawsuits against Bucks County and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to stop the counting of these ballots.
"The court just ruled on this two weeks ago,” an RNC official said. “And it's just very clear to us that Democrat lawyers and officials see a way to kind of make money off of Bob Casey by trying out this process, but Dave McCormick is already in D.C. to attend Senate orientation."
Republicans hold the majority in the Senate by 52-47 without including Sen.-elect McCormick’s seat.
