Pennsylvania Court: Secretary Of State Lacked Authority To Change Deadline 2 Days Before Election
A Pennsylvania court ruled on Thursday in favor of President Donald Trump’s campaign saying the key battleground state is barred from counting ballots where voters still need to submit identity proof and failed to do so by November 9.
The state’s rules allow voters until six days after the election — which is November 9 this year — to resolve issues regarding lack of proper identification.
But after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered that mail-in ballots could still be received up to three days after Election Day, the state’s secretary, Kathy Boockvar tweaked the guideline and ordered that proof of identification could still be submitted until November 12, or almost a week after the ballot acceptance deadline.
Boockvar, a Democrat and staunch critic of President Trump extended the deadline two days before the November 3 elections.
“[T]he Court concludes that Respondent Kathy Boockvar, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Commonwealth, lacked statutory authority to issue the November 1, 2020, guidance to Respondents County Boards of Elections insofar as that guidance purported to change the deadline … for certain electors to verify proof of identification,” Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt said in a court order with a November 12 release date.
Judge Leavitt also ruled that those ballots that missed the original November 9 deadline should not be counted.
“The Court hereby orders that Respondents County Boards of Elections are enjoined from counting any ballots that have been segregated pursuant to … this Court’s order dated November 5, granting a special injunction, it added.
The ruling was aligned with President Trump’s earlier argument that there was no basis in Pennsylvania’s laws allowing the State Secretary to extend the identification deadline nor was Boockvar granted powers to unilaterally change the rules.
Based on the media tally, Joe Biden won Pennsylvania against President Trump by over 50,000 votes — although it remains unclear how many of these votes will be affected by the new court ruling.
Pennsylvania lawmaker backs Trump
Pennsylvania representative Mike Kelly extended his support to President Trump amid his legal battles to question election results in the highly-contested state.
He’s also seeking for lawyers who will “help challenge” election results.
“Does anyone know a good elections lawyer who can oversee the counting of provisional ballots?” Rep. Kelly reportedly said in a campaign email on Sunday .
Earlier, Kelly said he thinks “there’s a very legitimate question being asked now by the American people and by Pennsylvanians as to what happened and how did this happen” pertaining to the election results.
“More Americans are questioning this election than any election we’ve had before — that’s what I know for sure,” the lawmaker said.
“For sure, there’s a lot of people who have lost faith and trust in our electoral system because of what they believe they’ve seen happen. The Trump campaign is going to do what they’re lawfully allowed to do, and I don’t know why we can’t wait for this process to play out,” he added.
Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State is currently being called out for her record of anti-Trump tweets which has been ongoing since 2016.
“Using the title ‘President’ before the word ‘Trump’ really demeans the office of the presidency,” Boockvar said back then. In 2016, she also wrote: “Trump already provided so many arguments of being dangerously unfit; now, he proved it beyond doubt.”
Meanwhile, another Republican lawmaker, Senator Jake Corman also backed President Trump saying “constantly changing guidance” resulted in inconsistent ballot handling of ballots.
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed what we have been saying – Secretary Boockvar changed the rules for the counties after telling the Court that ballots would only be segregated. https://t.co/gxgCb5f0IS https://t.co/PpZQ3tZKn5
— Senator Jake Corman (@JakeCorman) November 7, 2020
Constantly changing guidance resulted in inconsistent ballot handling across the counties. Her actions are a partisan effort to cause chaos and mistrust. The SCOTUS rebuke underscores how Boockvar’s actions have weakened confidence in our voting system and PA’s election results.
— Senator Jake Corman (@JakeCorman) November 7, 2020
