Several Pennsylvania counties are attempting to count ballots the state Supreme Court ruled three times are ineligible.
After days of several county elections boards counting illegal ballots in the recount between Republican Senator-elect Dave McCormick and Democratic incumbent Bob Casey, Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke out saying those ballots should not be counted. The recount began Monday.
Siding with the state Supreme Court, Shapiro blasted the county boards saying “Any insinuation that our laws can be ignored or do not matter is irresponsible and does damage to faith in our electoral process.”
Shapiro said the situation is a result of a “lack of clarity” on how to deal with mail-in voting.
The ballots in question have improperly dated or undated envelopes, which Pennsylvania’s highest court twice ruled ineligible. Last week, Bucks County Commissions Diane Ellis-Marseglia said “We all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country, and people violate laws any time they want,” when voting to accept the illegal ballots.
In response to Bucks, Philadelphia, Centre and Montgomery Counties including the illegal ballots, the McCormick campaign filed a lawsuit to stop them. On Monday, for a third time, the state Supreme Court issued orders telling counties to not count the ballots in question.
Republican State Senator Kim Ward criticized Shapiro’s statement, saying it “is nothing but excuses.” Prior to his statement denouncing the counting of illegal ballots, Shapiro had been largely silent, earning the indignation from conservative pundits, saying the Democratic governor stood aside during “this attack on his state’s elector integrity.” Former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer rhetorically asked on X “is it really too much to ask that Governor Shapiro speak out” against defying court orders.
McCormick is still ahead of Casey by more than 17,000 votes according to the state two weeks after the election. Casey has yet to concede.
Some media outlets are reporting the illegal vote counting as “a twist” in the election, which CNN investigative journalist Andy Kaczynski criticized, asking if the twist is “defying” court orders to “benefit Bob Casey.”
The Pennsylvania Republican Party criticized Casey for not waiving the recount after the race was called for McCormick by multiple media outlets. The PA GOP also blasted the illegal ballot counting, saying it is “absolute lawlessness.”
