Pennsylvania Senate Republican leaders on Wednesday called on Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar to resign immediately given her roll in the state’s electoral mayhem.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Majority Leader Jake Corman said in a statement on Wednesday:
Twice in the last two days, the Secretary of State has fundamentally altered the manner in which Pennsylvania’s election is being conducted. The constantly changing guidance she has delivered to counties not only directly contradicts the Election Code language she is sworn to uphold, but also conflicts her own litigation statements and decisions of both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.
Secretary Boockvar told the U.S. Supreme Court on October 28 that ballots received after 8 p.m. on November 3 would be segregated, but she changed the rules on November 1 and directed counties to canvass those ballots as soon as possible upon receipt. In some counties, it is not possible to both segregate and canvass ballots as directed. This directive leaves open the possibility that timely votes will be commingled with votes received after 8 p.m. on Election Day, despite the fact that these votes remain the subject of litigation before the United States Supreme Court.
The Department changed the rules again on November 2 when they provided last-second guidance directing counties to provide information to help voters whose mail-in or absentee ballots were incorrectly completed so those voters could vote on a provisional ballot. The late release of this “guidance” resulted in inconsistent application across the counties – some of whom contacted voters as directed and some who did not. There is no basis for this guidance in current law. The Secretary created this new process out of thin air.
The Pennsylvania Republicans contended that the Pennsylvania secretary of state “fundamentally altered” its formal and informal guidance for the November 3 elections.
They noted that Boockvar said that she would segregate the ballots received after 8:00 P.M. on November 3 and those received beforehand; however, Boockvar issued a notice 36 hours before the election that ballots received after the election would be counted “as soon as possible.”
The Republicans continued:
… at 8:38 p.m. on Monday, November 2 – less than 12 hours before the polls were to open – the Department issued an email to counties directing them to provide information to political party and candidate representatives regarding mail-in and absentee ballots which had been set aside because they failed to comply with the requirements of the Election Code in order to be counted, so that voters could come in and vote provisionally at the polls. The late release of this “guidance” resulted in inconsistent application across the counties, some of whom contacted voters as directed and some who did not; such differential treatment is wholly inappropriate and a direct result of Boockvar’s scattershot approach to Pennsylvania’s elections.
On Tuesday evening, Boockvar said that she does not intend to resign and disagrees with the Republicans’ assessment of her work.
She said, “Frankly, I think they are the ones that should resign for not having allowed PA and this nation to start pre-canvassing ballots early as 46 other states across the country have done. We would be getting results a lot sooner if they had.”
She added, “they don’t like the late counting of ballots because they don’t like anything that allows more eligible voters to be enfranchised, so let’s be clear about that.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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