Democrat commissioners in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, voted on Thursday to allow undated and misdated ballots to be counted as defeated Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey gears up for a recount in the race he lost to Republican Senator-elect Dave McCormick.
Bucks County Commissioners Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Robert Harvie moved to allow for undated or misdated ballots to be counted in the crucial swing county, despite a Nov. 1 state supreme court ruling that undated or misdated ballots cannot be counted. The commissioners voted to do so as the Casey-McCormick Senate race heads to a recount, with McCormick leading by about 25,000 votes, according to The Associated Press.
While some attendees and participants in the meeting argued against counting undated or misdated ballots by citing case law, Ellis-Marseglia said that “precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country” because “people violate laws anytime they want.”
“For me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it,” Marseglia-Ellis said.
Other counties in the state — including Centre County, Philadelphia County and Montgomery County — have also moved to allow undated or incorrectly dated ballots to be counted, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Bucks County GOP said in a post to X that it is working with attorneys from the Pennsylvania Republican Party and the Republican National Committee to address the situation in Bucks County.
McCormick and Republican allies filed lawsuits Thursday against the Bucks County decision, according to the Inquirer.
Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias, who was also behind the Steele Dossier, is involved in the Democrats’ effort to overturn the results of the Pennsylvania Senate race. Elias has engaged in numerous lawsuits in the past to try to validate problematic or disqualified ballots to the advantage of Democrats, such as his efforts in 2008 that ended up helping former Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken win an election.
Harvie and Ellis-Marseglia did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Featured Image Credit: Senator Bob Casey’s Office
