HARRISBURG – The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has ordered that Election Day’s provisional ballots submitted to correct defects in mail-in ballots be segregated, pending further review.
Commonwealth Court Judge P. Kevin Brobson issued the order Friday afternoon, in response to litigation brought GOP candidates Joseph D. Hamm, a candidate for the 84th District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Mike Kelly, who ran for re-election in the 16th District.
Hamm and Kelly brought legal action to prevent the curing of defective mail-in ballots, like those not enclosed in both secrecy envelopes.
“Petitioners, by counsel, hereby move pursuant to Rule 1532 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure for special relief in the form of a preliminary injunction enjoining respondent Kathy Boockvar, from permitting invalidly-submitted absentee and mail-in ballots to be ‘cured’ by the submission of provisional ballots and prohibiting defendants from disclosing identifying information about voters who have submitted ballots that must be rejected for non-compliance with the Pennsylvania Election Code,” the petitioners’ application read.
After the Democratic National Committee moved to intervene in the case on Nov. 4, counsel for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Kathy Boockvar responded on Nov. 6 with a memorandum arguing that the petitioners failed to show they would be irreparably harmed if the injunction wasn’t granted and rather, the parties that would be truly harmed upon the granting of an injunction would be those voters who cast provisional ballots.
Aside from the segregation of “cured” provisional ballots, the order from Brobson denied most of Hamm and Kelly’s requests, which including the rescinding of Boockvar’s instructions to local county election boards and the identification of voters who cast faulty ballots.
“The Secretary shall immediately distribute this order to all county boards of election in the Commonwealth. In all other respects, petitioners’ application is denied. This matter is stayed, pending further order of the court. Any party or possible intervenor may seek to lift the stay by filing an appropriate application,” Brobson said.
Though in excess of 92,000 provisional ballots were cast, it is not known how many provisional ballots may be at stake in the litigation.
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania case 600 MD 2020
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com