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Pennsylvania Counties Undated Mail-in Ballots Primary Certification [1]
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Date: 2023-01
Mr. Marks, who has served in the DOS for 27 years, testified that undated mail-in ballots must be included in certification totals: “It was our determination based on the case law that counties had a duty to certify results that included…undated ballots, and that failing to do so…would…mean that the counties have not completed their statutory duty to certify votes from all legally cast ballots.”
Mr. Leinbach, the chair of the Berks County Board of Commissioners, described what he views as ambiguity around election procedures to argue that that “this type of issue is what is causing a lack of trust in the system.” Mr. Leinbach is the chair of a county board that is allegedly refusing to include valid ballots in vote totals.
The attorney for the Pennsylvania DOS argued that the secretary cannot complete her duty to certify election results when there are incomplete vote totals: “The 3 counties in this case, Your Honor, are holding up final certification of the primary election because they refuse to complete the certification of every lawfully cast ballot.”
When the Pennsylvania attorney asked if the commissioner of the Fayette County Board chose not to follow court orders, he responded “yes.”
When asked about Migliori v. Lehigh County Board of Elections, which states that undated mail-in ballots must be counted, the Lancaster and Berks County attorney stated “well, I would argue that it is wrong.”
Throughout the hearing, the attorneys for the counties seemed to imply that the judge’s previous order in McCormick v. Chapman — which ordered counties to count undated mail-in ballots in the primary race for the Republican Senate nomination — was misinterpreted. The attorney for Berks and Lancaster counties argued that “I cannot imagine that [this court’s] order meant what the acting secretary says it means…that these undated ballots must be counted and therefore included in the certified results.” The judge then responded, “Yes, well, I stand by my opinion in the order of course.” To this, the attorney for Berks and Lancaster counties followed up with: “I urge the court to consider…that the dating requirement doesn’t go to the qualification about the voter, it goes to whether the vote that was cast will be counted. It’s not disenfranchising,” seemingly making the argument that not counting valid ballots does not disenfranchise the voter who cast that ballot.
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[1] Url:
https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/pennsylvania-counties-undated-mail-in-ballots-primary-certification/
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