Democratic officials in Pennsylvania are finally saying out it loud: Election denial is an unconscionable, existential threat to democracy — unless a Republican wins, in which case it’s fine to ignore the law to overturn it.
Commissioners in four Pennsylvania counties have been counting ballots disqualified by the state’s top court in a bid to overturn the results in the Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and GOP challenger Dave McCormick.
As of Monday, McCormick was still up by tens of thousands of votes; the Associated Press called the race for him last Thursday, yet Casey refused to concede.
And the election boards have been busy trying to save him.
No matter that the Keystone State’s Supreme Court (five Democrats, two Republicans, incidentally) twice ruled before Election Day that ballots are invalid if they lack a correct date on the return envelopes.
“We all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country, and people violate laws any time they want,” whined Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Bucks County commissioner. “There’s nothing more important than counting votes.”
Montgomery County’s election-board chairman, Neil Makhija, insisted the date “is immaterial and serves no purpose.”
In other words, ignore the law and keep counting ’til you steal the election.
Yet mainstream media largely ignored the outrage, with The New York Times treating the ongoing counts as a “twist” to the election.
Happily, the McCormick campaign went back to the high court, which on Monday issued a “shall comply” order to shut down the illegal counting of defective ballots.
Will the third time prove the charm for the self-proclaimed “save democracy” party?
Maybe: After days of silence, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) at last weighed in: “Any insinuation that our laws can be ignored or do not matter is irresponsible” and “does damage to faith in our electoral process.”
If he has any shame left, Casey will now concede and let the state avoid the expense of a pointless recount.
The rogue commissioners, meanwhile, better find lawyers.