So many lawyers, so little time…

Nov 17, 2020 | 0 comments

Two weeks past the election and we’re still waiting for the final results in some parts of the state, and legal hearings have just started. November 23rd is the date set for election results certification in Pennsylvania, so this may be a fast moving week. We’ll try to keep you updated. This is the newest information we’ve learned since our last election update:

Election Results Status:

  • The counting of mail-in ballots and provisional ballots is still not done in Pennsylvania. As of this post, there are 29,013 mail-in ballots left across the state and an unknown amount of provisional ballots. 
  • November 23 is the date set for election results certification in Pennsylvania.

Litigation:

  • The State Supreme Court ruled 5-2 on Tuesday that Philadelphia County election officials did nothing wrong in refusing access to the Republican poll watchers as ballots were being counted.
  • Oral arguments are today at 1:30pm in the federal lawsuit filed here in Pennsylvania by the Trump campaign, Trump v. Boockvar, seeking to throw out invalid ballots and ballots counted without transparency due to the violations of election law in Allegheny County, Centre County, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Northampton County, and Philadelphia County. This lawsuit has the potential to invalidate 600,000+ ballots due to election law violations. By comparison, Biden and Trump are currently separated by 73,930 votes.
  • The Commonwealth Court will hear arguments for In Re: Canvass of absentee ballots and mail-in ballots of November 3, 2020 general election on Thursday, November 19 at 10am. You’ll be able to watch the livestream here: https://youtu.be/Q87mxD9YX7o. The Trump campaign initiated this case objecting to 8,329 ballots in Philadelphia that were missing required information (appealed from the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas). Republican State Senate candidate for the 45th district, Nicole Ziccarelli, intervened in the case objecting to 2,349 ballots missing required information in Allegheny County. (She filed this case in the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas as well.)
  • The Bucks County Court of Common Pleas is holding a conference this morning regarding the Trump campaign’s objection to several hundred ballots that were missing required information.
  • The Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas ordered the 592 ballots to be counted.
  • No word yet on the US Supreme Court appeal regarding ballots that came in after 8pm on Election Day.

Legislative efforts:

  • The House State Government Committee and the Senate State Government Committee both announced that they would hold hearings looking into the election process. However, those are likely not happening until next year, largely because Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (who oversees elections) and other state and county officials are unable to testify while involved in the current litigation.
  • The Senate Republican Caucus filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief in support of the Trump campaign in the federal lawsuit being heard in court today.
  • The House Republicans filed a motion to intervene in the State Supreme Court case regarding poll watcher access in Philadelphia.

For those who have heard rumors about the Dominion voting machines, used here in Pennsylvania, and 29 other states in the U.S., we know as much as you do. This article outlines some of the claims being made, but no evidence has been made public yet.

The final results of the election are still very much undecided here in Pennsylvania, and it’s hard to say how various courts will rule. Stay tuned.