Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismisses Trump allies’ attempt to throw out millions of mail-in ballots
‘Courts should not decide elections when the will of the voters is clear’
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Your support makes all the difference.The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit brought about by Congressman Mike Kelly, and other allies of Donald Trump, attempting to invalidate the state’s mail-in ballots from the 2020 election.
State attorney general Josh Shapiro called the decision “another win for democracy” describing it as an attempt to throw out the votes of 2.5 million Pennsylvanians and halt certification fo the election results.
The court said that the “Petitioners’ failure to file their facial constitutional challenge in a timely manner" was the basis of the decision.
Plaintiffs cited issues with Act 77 and its “universal mail-in ballot provisions” but waived their opportunity to challenge the law before the election.
Justice David Wecht wrote: “It is not our role to lend legitimacy to such transparent and untimely efforts to subvert the will of Pennsylvania voters. Courts should not decide elections when the will of the voters is clear.”
The court dismissed the case “with prejudice” meaning that it cannot be refiled.
A group of eight Republicans, including Congressman Kelly, brought the cases against the Republican-majority Pennsylvania general assembly, the state's governor Tom Wolf, and the Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, alleging legislation allowing mail-in voting in the state is unconstitutional.
Act 77 — which allows mail-in voting in the state — was passed with a majority of Republican support in the state's Republican-majority general assembly in 2019.
It passed Pennsylvania's House 138-61, with only one Republican voting no. Every Republican senator voted yes on the legislation.
Thus far, every legal challenge brought on behalf of Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election by invalidating legally cast votes has been thrown out of court.
The lawsuit alleges that in order for the state to expand its mail-in voting allowances, it would have had to amend its constitution, which it did not do. As a result, the lawsuit argues, all mail-in ballots are illegal.
In a previous court ruling, the state's Supreme Court ruled in favour of mail-in voting.
Other election-related lawsuits in Pennsylvania have already been tossed out.
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