Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro, considered one of the favorites for the 2028 Democrat presidential nomination, took the side of a court that ruled against Democratic officials who defied state law — but condemned such actions by officials after the court’s ruling.
On Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that counties must reject undated and misdated ballots after Democrat election officials openly defied the order last week. The officials’ actions came as the recount of the race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick began. Casey would not concede after multiple outlets, including the Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ, called the race for McCormick.
Last week, Democrats in the Bucks County Office of Commissioners rejected their Republican colleague’s motion to stop “noncompliant” ballots from being counted. The Democrats’ move came after the commonwealth’s Supreme Court granted the GOP’s request to block the counting of mail ballots without dates.
Last Thursday, Gene DiGirolamo, the sole Republican on the three-person panel, introduced a motion to reject the attempt to count what the GOP called “noncompliant” ballots. In response, Democrat Diane Marseglia, the chair of the commission, dismissed the proposal out of hand. “Not going to second that, mostly because I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter in this country and people violate laws any time they want,” she said. “So for me, if I violate this law it’s because I want the court to pay attention to it.”
“It is critical to the rule of law that individual counties and municipalities and their elected and appointed officials, like any other parties, obey orders of this Court,” Justice David Wecht wrote in a 4-3 decision, according to The Hill. Casey’s campaign intervened to oppose the effort to stop undated mail ballots from being counted.
Shapiro issued no statement about the Democrat officials’ actions until the court ruled against his party. He blamed a “lack of clarity” due to “certain legislative actors refusing to act on critical election reforms” for the issue having to be resolved by the courts.
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Only after the court’s decision did Shapiro write, “As we move forward, I want to be clear: any insinuation that our laws can be ignored or do not matter is irresponsible and does damage to faith in our electoral process. The rule of law matters in this Commonwealth, and as I have always said, it is critical for counties and officials in both parties to respect it with both their rhetoric and their actions.”
.@GovernorShapiro weighs in: pic.twitter.com/ctApXo71xN
— Carter Walker (@ByCarterWalker) November 18, 2024
Zach Jewell contributed to this article.
Related: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Against Dems Who Defied Law, Won’t Allow Undated Ballots