Republicans think the best thing to do to contest the mail-in voting law is to sue the state. It’s a rather controversial yet predictable move, given the events that occurred from after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. Voter fraud has never been a hotter topic than now. And this comes from paranoia on the Republicans’ part against election fraud. This occurs no less n a political battleground state. It occurs maybe two months before voters are able to even get close to sending in mail-in ballots in the fall election that features high-profile contests for governor and U.S. Senate.
Additionally the lawsuit was filed this past Wednesday in the Commonwealth Court by about 14 state Republican lawmakers. It’s contended that the court simply has to invalidate the law simply because of a provision that has been written in stating how it was “void” from any of the requirements, given especially if they were struck down in court.
Of course, the lawsuit states how the “non-severability” provision had been triggered in a May 20th decision by a panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, regarding mail-in ballots in Leigh County’s own judicial race in November. Simply speaking, the ballots have been lacking handwritten dates upon the return envelops as would be required by law.
The decision itself would also point out that there had been no handwritten date with any bearing on voter’s eligibility. Specifically regarding that it would violate voters’ civil rights to throw out the ballots in an election that lacks a handwritten date.
Furthermore, the panel shows that ballots with a handwritten date couldn’t possibly do anything less than biolate civil rights to throw the ballots in an election simply because of a lacking of handwritten dates.
The administration of Governor Tom Wolf had declined any comment on the lawsuit. Similarily, the response had appeared to the state lawmaker’s inquisition that federal appeals court decision couldn’t trigger the non-severability provision. Regardless, state courts couldn’t have chosen to enact the non-severability provisions from the past, especially regarding high-profile cases from 2006 over government pay raises.
Of course, this is all to say that the best thing that could have happened is more awareness that voting is a real concern and God-given right to defend. “Republican legislators should work on improving the voting experience and vote canvassing process, not stunts like this.” All according to Adam Bonin, the lawyer who had been representing the Democratic candidate in the Lehigh County judicial race, called the new lawsuit.
