GOV/MIL Pennsylvania Legislature Prepares Federal Lawsuit to Challenge Mail Voting Rulings

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
Fair use.
Exclusive: Pennsylvania Legislature Prepares Federal Lawsuit to Challenge Mail Voting Rulings
ballots
Tiffany Tertipes via Unsplash
SEAN MORAN 20 Sep 2020552
Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R) revealed to Breitbart News Saturday they will sue to block the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s rulings that would allegedly create “opportunities for fraud” to benefit former Vice President Joe Biden.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued three rulings on Thursday, extended the deadline for mail-in ballots to the Friday after Election Day, ruled voters could use dropbox to return mail-in ballots, and removed the Green Party’s presidential ticket from the ballot.

Democrats are reportedly expected to vote in far larger numbers by mail than Republicans, who will reportedly vote more in person.
The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote these rulings would “likely aid” former Vice President Joe Bidens’ campaign.

Benninghoff decried the state Supreme Court rulings, charging it would not only make Pennsylvanians’ vote insecure but also lead to fraud that would benefit Biden’s campaign.

“Well, sadly, they’re, really in my opinion, jeopardizing every person’s vote and the security of that vote. I think it’s ironic that the Democrat Party wants to be the party perceived to be about openness and diversity, but yet they work very hard to kick a third-party candidate, the Green Party candidate,” Benninghoff told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle.

He added the rulings would allow for people to exploit “opportunities for fraud is only to help out Joe Biden.”

“These kind of things should outrage the average voter, it’s just not right, and to be changing the gameplays in the middle of the game is ridiculous,” he added.

“We don’t want election night to turn into election week or election month,” Benninghoff said regarding the extended mail-vote deadline.

“It’s self-evident to me that this is all about trying to steal the election and take away your vote,” he said.

Benninghoff then revealed the state House of Representatives plans to petition the Supreme Court to issue a stay of the state Supreme Court’s rulings and sue in federal court against the rulings. Benninghoff contended the state legislature should have jurisdiction over election law, not Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf and the state Supreme Court. He said:
Well, first of all, we are going to seek every option possible, that’s legislative or appealing to the higher courts. As you know very well, anything that we pass through legislation has to get the endorsement of the governor, and he’s throwing a lot of vetoes, and I suspect he would veto anything that he put out to changes this. This is what he wanted, and he’s wanted to count ballots for weeks or two after the election. We think that is wrong, and we are in the process currently as I speak, preparing as I say, a motion for stay of that directive by a citizen to the Supreme Court. In addition, we will be during our very best to file in the federal courts; election law is a universal right of Pennsylvanians and Americans, and they should secure it to the best of their ability and not go along with this 5-2 Democrat mandated majority of the courts said in their ruling.
Boyle noted the petition to the Supreme Court would go to Justice Samuel Alito.
“We believe that you people elect your representatives, you elect your Senate, and by our own statute and law of the Constitution, it is the legislature that deals with election law, not the governor’s office or the courts as we’ve seen too often. These courts want to legislate and interpret the law. That’s right; it’s the separation of powers, and I think the federal courts need to step up and take this case and speak loudly all across America that separation of powers are there for a reason and if they want to be legislators, they ought to run for the legislature and not the judge positions and I” m hoping that the federal courts will rule in our favor,” he explained.

Boyle then said the state House majority “are in the thick of this fight” and that “Pennsylvania is clearly on the frontlines.”

Benninghoff then charged that Pennsylvanians should call their local county commissioners to make sure that their local governments do not make these last-minute changes.

He said that the, “General public needs to call their county commissioners and make sure that they are not allowing these perverse changes to occur in their own county. They get elected every four years and need to hold them accountable because they all serve on their local election board, and it’s paramount that they are and say we don’t want these shenanigans, we don’t want drop boxes.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
Link to source:
 

sleepyeddie

Senior Member
How about if the Republicans say to the Dems; if you cancel mail in voting, we will let you choose one of the 3 on this list for the Supreme Court nominee. Silly I know. But just maybe they are crazy enough to go for it.
 

Hawkgirl_70

Veteran Member
This is good news to read.
Now hopefully they’ll have good attorneys that will fight and throw this ruling out.

Now, where’s Michigan???? They’ve got to fight Friday’s ruling too!
 

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
Fair use.
Democrat County Clerk Calls Cops on Toilet Lawn Display Mocking Mail-In Voting
A political display is set up in the lawn of a home on West Columbia Street in Mason, Mich., on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)
Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP
KYLE OLSON 19 Sep 2020
A county clerk in Michigan called the police on a Mason homeowner over a lawn display mocking mail-in voting.

The resident set a toilet in his front lawn along with a sign that read “Place mail in ballots here!” ABC 33-40 reported.

While the political statement may garner some snickers from passersby, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum was not laughing.

In fact, she called the cops.

“Earlier this week, I filed a complaint with the Mason Police Department and the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office regarding a report of a potential election violation located just blocks from the Mason Historical Courthouse,” she told WILX.

Byrum had a warning for the homeowner with the open toilet on his front lawn: It is not an official receptacle for ballots.

“It is a felony to take illegal possession of an absentee ballot,” she said, adding he may face a $1,000 fine or five years in prison if someone casts a ballot into the bowl.

The clerk also took time to shun the unnamed homeowner.

“I find it more than a little ironic that the person who is registered at the address in question has voted absentee for the last three elections, so they obviously know the importance of exercising their right to do so,” Byrum said.

Mason police told the Associated Press that they are investigating Byrum’s complaint.

“It’s solicitation of absentee ballots into a container,” Byrum told the Lansing State Journal. “Our election integrity is not a game. I expect everyone to act appropriately, and this is unacceptable.”

The paper reported the homeowner also had a “Recall (Gretchen) Whitmer” and John James signs in his yard. Whitmer is the Democrat governor and James is a Republican challenging incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Gary Peters.

“This kind of behavior needs to be quashed immediately,” Byrum said of the political statement. “They are making a mockery of our elections. I’m not going to stand idly by and watch it happen.”

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays. Listen to segments on YouTube or download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and follow him on Parler.
Link to source:
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane

In First Post-RBG Test, GOP Will Ask Supreme Court To Limit Pennsylvania Mail Voting
Profile picture for user Tyler Durden
by Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/22/2020 - 14:28
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In what looks to be the first major test of the new post-RBG iteration of the Supreme Court, which could soon have a 6-3 conservative majority, the GOP is planning to ask SCOTUS to review a major PA state court decision that extended the due date for mail-in ballots in a critical battleground state.
The news was first reported by the Hill, but the party's intentions were actually revealed in a set of court documents published overnight. The PA Supreme Court decision was handed down last week. Under the ruling, PA must accept ballots postmarked by Election Day, so long as they arrive within three days.
Ginsburg's death leaves SCOTUS with a 5-3 conservative majority: However, both Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch have, in the past, broken with their fellow conservatives on decisions ranging from health-care to immigration. As Dems cry about the court moving to curtail voting rights, it's important to remember nobody knows how a justice will rule on any given issue until a case has been heard. Their past rulings are merely a guide.
With the expectation being that Ginsburg's replacement will be installed and sworn in before the court hears this ruling (Republicans are shooting to wrap up the confirmation votes next week after Trump announces his final decision on Saturday), it will be a test more broadly of where the conservative-dominated court stands on voting rights and access - issues that Democrats are trying to elevate.

20200921 133 MM 2020 - Application for Partial Stay of September 17 2020 Judgment (1) by Zerohedge on Scribd

PA Republicans argued the state court's decision "creates a serious likelihood that Pennsylvania's imminent general election "will be tainted by votes that were illegally cast or mailed after Election Day."

In the petition, the state GOP says it has a "substantial case on the merits" that this presumption is preempted by federal law and violates the US Constitution. After all, SCOTUS earlier this year stayed a judgment extending Wisconsin's implied postmark deadline for absentee ballots because the decision "extended the date by which ballots may be cast".


******

The document is at the link.
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane
And the there is this...


An Obscure Law In Pennsylvania Could Result In 100,000 Mail-In Ballots Being Thrown Out Without Ever Being Counted
Profile picture for user Tyler Durden
by Tyler Durden
Tue, 09/22/2020 - 12:45
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Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,
We are still more than 40 days away from the election, and already we are seeing huge red flags regarding the integrity of the voting process in some states. No matter who you support, you should want the upcoming election to be fair. Every American should be able to vote, all of those votes should be counted, and the decision that the American people make should be respected. Unfortunately, it appears that this is likely to be the most chaotic election in modern American history, and wrangling over what votes should be counted and what votes should not be counted is likely to persist long after election night is over. In the end, it would not be surprising to see the outcome of the election end up at the Supreme Court, and that is a scenario that none of us should want to see.

Let me give you an example that shows why I am so concerned. In Pennsylvania, a recent legal decision requires officials to throw out mail-in ballots without counting them if voters do not return them in “secrecy envelopes”

Philadelphia’s top elections official is warning of electoral chaos in the presidential battleground state if lawmakers there do not remove a provision in Pennsylvania law that, under a days-old court decision, requires counties to throw out mail-in ballots returned without secrecy envelopes.
This is a very big deal, because large numbers of votes could be voided in one of our most important swing states.
According to the Washington Times, it is being estimated that “more than 100,000 mail-in ballots” could potentially be thrown out…
Some 30,000 to 40,000 mail-in ballots could arrive without secrecy envelopes in Philadelphia alone in November’s presidential election, Deeley estimated, and the state Supreme Court’s interpretation of current law forces election officials to throw them out.
Statewide, that could mean throwing out more than 100,000 mail-in ballots in the Nov. 3 presidential election, according to some estimates.
In 2016, President Trump won the state of Pennsylvania by just 44,292 votes.
So eliminating 100,000 votes could potentially swing the outcome from one candidate to the other.

And if the national results are very close, whoever wins Pennsylvania could ultimately determine who wins the White House.

Sadly, this is not the only reason to be deeply concerned about the integrity of the vote in Pennsylvania. Last week, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that the deadline for mail-in ballots will be “the Friday after Election Day”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued three rulings on Thursday, extended the deadline for mail-in ballots to the Friday after Election Day, ruled voters could use dropbox to return mail-in ballots, and removed the Green Party’s presidential ticket from the ballot.
So does this mean that countless numbers of voters in the state could potentially cast votes after election day and still have them counted?

I am just imagining a scenario where one party is barely behind in the state on election night and then makes an all-out push to have more people vote by mail on Wednesday and Thursday. If the party that is in the lead does not match that late push, that could also be something that flips the outcome of the election.

There are so many things that could go wrong, and I believe that we are headed for a giant mess no matter who wins.

Signs of trouble continue to pile up in other states as well. In Wisconsin, a federal judge just decided that absentee ballots “can be counted up to six days after the Nov. 3 presidential election”
A federal judge ruled Monday that absentee ballots in battleground Wisconsin can be counted up to six days after the Nov. 3 presidential election as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
The highly anticipated ruling, unless overturned, means that the outcome of the presidential race in Wisconsin might not be known for days after polls close. Under current law, the deadline for returning an absentee ballot to have it counted is 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Wisconsin is another one of the most critical swing states, and so this is very troubling news.

In so many states, we are going to have to wait for a long time after the election before we get final results, and that period of uncertainty is going to be very bad for our nation.
I just have such a bad feeling about what is going to happen in November. It is being estimated that up to 40 percent of the population will vote by mail, and that number is far, far higher than anything that we have ever seen before.

And we also have millions and millions of people registering to vote without ever having to come face to face with anyone. In fact, Facebook has announced that they have “already registered 2.5 million Americans to vote”
Facebook says it has already registered 2.5 million Americans to vote in the upcoming presidential election, with a goal of registering 4 million total before Election Day.
In a blog post in advance of National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, the social-media giant touted its combined registration figures from Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, extrapolating from conversion rates from several states.

Seriously?
We all know that Facebook has millions of fake profiles. In fact, I get friend requests from fake profiles constantly.

So who decided that it would be okay for them to register “millions of people” to vote?
And the way that some states are aggressively promoting mail-in voting is making a lot of people really upset. One of my readers that intends to vote in person told me that in the past five weeks “my wife and I have received three requests each for mail in ballots!”


Another one of my readers has been very confused by the forms that she has been getting in the mail, because they make it seem like voting by mail is not optional…
“A few weeks ago I got a form in the mail about voting by mail. Days later I asked a neighbor about it because I want to vote in person and they said that we can vote in person. In today’s mail I received a letter from my secretary of state asking me why I had not begun the process yet. It doesn’t say that it’s optional, they are just leading us to believe it’s the only way we are going to be allowed to vote.”
This enormous push for mail-in votes is going to create an unprecedented mess, and the outcome of the presidential election is likely to be contested no matter who is ahead on election night.

Needless to say, a contested outcome is likely to spark even more civil unrest, and that won’t be good for our country at all.

This is such a critical moment for America, and the voice of every American should be respected.

But if the integrity of our voting process is compromised, that could result in someone winning the election that the American people did not choose, and that is something that none of us should want.
 

Tristan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Fair use.
Exclusive: Pennsylvania Legislature Prepares Federal Lawsuit to Challenge Mail Voting Rulings
ballots
Tiffany Tertipes via Unsplash
SEAN MORAN 20 Sep 2020552
Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R) revealed to Breitbart News Saturday they will sue to block the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s rulings that would allegedly create “opportunities for fraud” to benefit former Vice President Joe Biden.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued three rulings on Thursday, extended the deadline for mail-in ballots to the Friday after Election Day, ruled voters could use dropbox to return mail-in ballots, and removed the Green Party’s presidential ticket from the ballot.

Democrats are reportedly expected to vote in far larger numbers by mail than Republicans, who will reportedly vote more in person.
The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote these rulings would “likely aid” former Vice President Joe Bidens’ campaign.

Benninghoff decried the state Supreme Court rulings, charging it would not only make Pennsylvanians’ vote insecure but also lead to fraud that would benefit Biden’s campaign.

“Well, sadly, they’re, really in my opinion, jeopardizing every person’s vote and the security of that vote. I think it’s ironic that the Democrat Party wants to be the party perceived to be about openness and diversity, but yet they work very hard to kick a third-party candidate, the Green Party candidate,” Benninghoff told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle.

He added the rulings would allow for people to exploit “opportunities for fraud is only to help out Joe Biden.”

“These kind of things should outrage the average voter, it’s just not right, and to be changing the gameplays in the middle of the game is ridiculous,” he added.

“We don’t want election night to turn into election week or election month,” Benninghoff said regarding the extended mail-vote deadline.

“It’s self-evident to me that this is all about trying to steal the election and take away your vote,” he said.

Benninghoff then revealed the state House of Representatives plans to petition the Supreme Court to issue a stay of the state Supreme Court’s rulings and sue in federal court against the rulings. Benninghoff contended the state legislature should have jurisdiction over election law, not Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf and the state Supreme Court. He said:

Boyle noted the petition to the Supreme Court would go to Justice Samuel Alito.
“We believe that you people elect your representatives, you elect your Senate, and by our own statute and law of the Constitution, it is the legislature that deals with election law, not the governor’s office or the courts as we’ve seen too often. These courts want to legislate and interpret the law. That’s right; it’s the separation of powers, and I think the federal courts need to step up and take this case and speak loudly all across America that separation of powers are there for a reason and if they want to be legislators, they ought to run for the legislature and not the judge positions and I” m hoping that the federal courts will rule in our favor,” he explained.

Boyle then said the state House majority “are in the thick of this fight” and that “Pennsylvania is clearly on the frontlines.”

Benninghoff then charged that Pennsylvanians should call their local county commissioners to make sure that their local governments do not make these last-minute changes.

He said that the, “General public needs to call their county commissioners and make sure that they are not allowing these perverse changes to occur in their own county. They get elected every four years and need to hold them accountable because they all serve on their local election board, and it’s paramount that they are and say we don’t want these shenanigans, we don’t want drop boxes.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
Link to source:


They're really going for all the marbles.

You may want to keep that thought in mind.
 
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