Sep 23, 2020 3 min read

Both the state House and Senate Republican caucus are now seeking a stay of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court order lengthening the validity of mail-in ballots for three days after the Nov. 3 election.

State House Speaker Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County and Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff of Centre and Mifflin counties weighed in late Tuesday afternoon.

The caucuses have gone to federal court claiming in the leaders’ joint statement that the extension is not in current law and that the decision from the state Supreme Court, where Democrats hold a majority, was “openly partisan.”

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, granted an extension in a handful of counties for similarly late-arriving ballots in the wake of civil unrest related to the May 25 death in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The novel coronavirus pandemic had pushed back the date of the April presidential primary to June 2.

The case in which the Supreme Court issued a decision last Thursday was Pennsylvania Democrat Party vs. Secretary of State Kathy Boockvaar.

An emailed inquiry to Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, resulted in a response of “no comment.”

The Department of State oversees elections as conducted by Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The House Republican leaders claim the three-day delay “will potentially put Pennsylvania in the middle of a disastrous national crisis the world (waits) for our Commonwealth to tally election results days or weeks” following Nov. 3.

They also expressed the opinion that receiving postal ballots through Nov. 6 would “open the door to diminishing everyone’s vote by fraud or misconduct.”

Washington and Greene counties did not have an extended mail-in ballot deadline in the primary. Allegheny County, however, was part of Wolf’s emergency order.

A local Election Review Committee established by the Washington County commissioners prior to the pandemic in a report expressed satisfaction with the pace of completing results in its home county, and advocated for a longer period to processing mail-in ballots cast in the general election.

The law was revised to begin the process at 7 a.m. on Election Day, the same time that polls open.

Reforms have yet to be finalized by the Republican-dominated state Legislature, on which the governor and Republicans do not see eye-to-eye.

The state Supreme Court also nixed Green Party candidates’ presence on the ballot, allowed counties to use drop boxes to collect ballots in lieu of the postal service and said poll watchers may serve in that position only in their counties of residence.

Washington and Greene counties have no plans to institute drop boxes before Election Day, but voters can bring their own ballots to the respective elections offices.