The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania struck down a bid by Democratic officials Monday to count illegal ballots in the 2024 US Senate race, as incumbent Sen. Bob Casey still refused to concede to Republican projected winner Dave McCormick.
In an unsigned opinion, the commonwealth’s high court ordered local election board members to comply with its earlier rulings by discounting mail-in and absentee ballots without dates on them.
Justices David Wecht, Sallie Mundy, Kevin Brobson and Kevin Dougherty were in the majority, while Chief Justice Debra Todd and Justices Christine Donohue and Daniel McCaffery dissented.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Republican Party of Pennsylvania appealed to the justices to block the counting of undated ballots in all of the state’s 67 counties, among other lawsuits related to the Senate contest.
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rightfully struck down the flagrantly lawless campaign by Bob Casey and his scumbag lawyer, Marc Elias, to undermine the will of the voters and steal a Senate seat weeks after the election was called,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Philip Letsou.
“Josh Shapiro, John Fetterman, and national Democrats must call on Casey to concede and stop undermining faith in our elections,” added Letsou, whose group helped fund the suit.
Major TV networks, Decision Desk HQ and the Associated Press have already declared McCormick the victor over Casey, with the AP calling the race nov. 7 as the Republican challenger led by more than 30,000 votes.
Though McCormick showed up last week for Senate orientation, Casey has refused to give up the ghost, insisting on a statewide recount that must be completed by Nov. 26 and reported the following day.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and the worth of someone’s vote is not determined by how long it takes to be counted,” Casey wrote in a PennLive.com op-ed explaining his decision not to concede.
“There are thousands of eligible voters who cast their ballot but made small errors that would have disenfranchised them if they weren’t able to correct them by their county’s deadline.”
The recount is expected to cost Pennsylvania taxpayers as much as $1 million — and has been sneered at even by left-leaning editors at the Washington Post.
“Mr. Casey has almost certainly lost this race,” the paper’s editorial board wrote in an article published Saturday. “The three-term incumbent sees it differently and has every right to plead his case in court. State law also entitles Mr. Casey to a statewide recount because Mr. McCormick’s margin of victory is smaller than half a percentage point, though not by much. A recount is unlikely to change the outcome.”
As of 5 p.m. Monday, McCormick’s margin was 17,439 votes out of more than 6.9 million ballots cast.
“Senator Casey is fighting to ensure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard and to protect their right to participate in our democracy – just like he has done throughout his entire career,” said Casey campaign manager Tiernan Donohue.
“Meanwhile, David McCormick and the national Republicans are working to throw out provisional ballots cast by eligible Pennsylvania voters and accepted by county boards. It is wrong and we will fight it.”
An official in Bucks County, outside Philadelphia, who donated to Casey’s campaign shockingly admitted last week to unlawfully approving other provisional ballots that were deficient.
“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” said county commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia while casting votes in favor of counting the deficient ballots.
“People violate laws any time they want,” she added. “So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes.”
McCormick’s campaign had filed another suit against the “legally erroneous” counting of unregistered voters’ ballots in Bucks, Centre and Philadelphia counties.
“Today’s ruling is a massive setback to Senator Casey’s attempt to count illegal ballots,” said McCormick campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Gregory.
“Bucks County and others blatantly violated the law in an effort to help Senator Casey. Senator-elect McCormick is very pleased with this ruling and looks forward to taking the Oath of Office in a few short weeks.”
Casey campaign attorney Adam Bonin has told The Post that no officials were “trying to count votes from individuals who were not registered.”
