Posted on 09/20/2020 2:51:16 PM PDT by karpov
Three days late, and no postmark needed: That’s the ruling on mail votes from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. State law clearly says absentee ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day. But on Thursday the court controlled by Democrats, in a case filed by Democrats, rewrote the law in a 4-3 vote, with four Democrats in the majority, 47 days before Nov. 3.
“There is no ambiguity regarding the deadline set by the General Assembly,” the court’s majority admits. To overturn it, they cite a line in Pennsylvania’s constitution: “Elections shall be free and equal; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.” How does that language empower judges to ignore the ballot deadline? We’ll wait while readers search for emanations and penumbras.
Pennsylvania’s election laws are flawed. Voters can request an absentee ballot as late as 5 p.m. on Oct. 27, seven days before the votes are due. The majority opinion calls this “an extremely condensed timeline” that “will unquestionably fail under the strain of COVID-19 and the 2020 Presidential Election, resulting in the disenfranchisement of voters.”
Before the state’s June 2 primary, a crush of applications meant that many ballots went out late. “An elector cannot exercise the franchise,” the majority says, “while her ballot application is awaiting processing in a county election board nor when her ballot is sitting in a USPS facility.” Thus the court orders that ballots be counted if they arrive by Nov. 6. If their postmarks are missing or illegible, they will be “presumed to have been mailed by Election Day” unless evidence shows otherwise.
The court’s feigned modesty elsewhere in the ruling is hilarious by comparison.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Surely this could be challenged at the federal level. Is there precedent for what the Penn. Supreme Court has done?
This is one of the most nakedly partisan judicial decisions ever, in the history of the Republic.
This is why Trumps SC nominee MUST be confirmed BEFORE the
election, not after.
have to go to scotus on this
courts do not get to write the laws
interpreting the law doesnt allow the courts to create law
this is creating law that isn’t there
This is such BS. Should it not fail appeal, no PA votes should be counted until Nov 7.
Is appeal in process?
after the 2000 election the federal government should have fixed and standardized election procedures nationwide.
Yes, and they should have been working on this mail in crap long before now.
This is why Trumps SC nominee MUST be confirmed BEFORE the
election, not after.
/
/
BINGO!
I was responding to a comment on another thread, and was reading up on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Bush v. Gore case in 2000. The Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Court’s decision, claiming that the Florida Court had created new election law, which is a right reserved for the state legislature. So wouldn’t these court-granted extensions, and ordering that late ballots, and ballots without postmarks must be counted...isn’t that just another example of the Court “creating new election law,” which is actually the job of the State Legislature?
This is pretty much Bush v. Gore. SCOTUS determined the Florida Supreme Court could not change the election rules set by the Florida Legislature.
Under the Constitution, this is a power allocated to the States.
This why PDJT needs to create a conservative majority on SCOTUS, ASAP!!
I just posted a comment about that. The Supreme Court found in Bush v. Gore that the Florida Supreme Court had created a new election law, which isn't their job, but the job of the State Legislature. So all these court ordered extensions, and forcing late ballots, and non-postmarked ballots to be counted isn't the job of the court, but the job of the State's law makers.
In Mi a lower court rat hack Judge extended it TWO WEEKS past the election for just this election.
Judges can’t write election laws. It’s up to the legislature. Those rulings will not stand.
My question exactly. Why are we not reading about an emergency court filing or an injunction? I can’t find anything on an appeal of this state court over reach.
The state legislature has decided to codify the changes made by the courts which they say did not go far enough. These changes will apply to all local precincts.
“Votes will be allowed to be counted for whatever period of time is required and irregardless of the postmark. The vote tallies can continue until the DNC has confirmed that enough votes have been counted”.
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