Pennsylvania Judge Delays Election Certification Pending Republican Legal Challenge
A Commonwealth Court Judge ruled Wednesday that Pennsylvania election results should not be certified until a Republican lawsuit challenging the voting process is resolved.
The order, signed by Commonwealth Judge Patricia McCullough, bars all respondents from certifying the results of the election pending a hearing on Friday, November 27 at 11:30 a.m.
President Donald Trump’s campaign lawyer, Jenna Ellis, touted the development on Twitter.
🚨BREAKING: Pennsylvania Court grants hearing in election integrity case challenging the constitutionality of Act 77 (mail-in ballots). pic.twitter.com/eHqtjnf4by
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) November 25, 2020
The lawsuit, brought to the court by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Republican Congressional candidate Sean Parnell, and others, challenges the constitutionality of Act 77. The act, which the state legislature passed and Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed in October 2019, expanded mail-in and absentee voting in the commonwealth.
The lawsuit argues that any changes made to absentee voting should require an amendment to the commonwealth’s Constitution. If a court ruled in favor of the Pennsylvania Republican lawsuit it would invalidate all votes cast by mail in the 2020 election.
“This court must intervene immediately in order to prevent further, irreparable injury from the resulting wrongs of an election conducted pursuit to an unconstitutional and invalid mail-in voting scheme,” the plaintiffs wrote.
Attorneys for Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar requested the court dismiss the lawsuit.
“While draped in the driest of historical arguments, petitioners’ claim is audacious; to grant it would undercut the very foundations of Pennsylvania’s democracy and snatch the most basic of rights from its people,” the attorneys wrote in their response to the lawsuit.
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