RNC and PA GOP Battle Dems to Uphold Voter Laws in Swing State

In what could be a pivotal and crucial state in the 2024 presidential election, the Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania Republican Party filed a petition for leave to intervene against the Butler County Board of Elections after the Secretary of State allowed — during the state’s primary — voters whose mail ballots lacked the required secrecy envelope to cast a provisional ballot.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has affirmed that returning a mail ballot in the secrecy envelope is mandatory under the Election Code and stated that the code does not provide a right to cure mail ballot errors.

“It appears likely that as part of the 2024 Primary Election, the Board weighed mail-in ballots as they were received, and where it suspected that a secrecy ballot was missing based on the returned ballot’s weight, included a notation in the SURE system indicating that the ballot was likely missing a secrecy envelope,” the petition notes. “This information is available to the Department, which has apparently set up an automatic email notice to voters through the SURE system informing them that their mail-in ballot had been rejected, and further advising such voters to appear in person and cast a provisional ballot. The Republican Committees believe that such a practice constitutes a clear violation of the Pennsylvania Election Code, which prohibits anyone from disclosing the results of the pre-canvass, and exceeds the Department’s authority under the Election Code.”

“If a vote is not legally cast, it should not be counted,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley stated. “Butler County does not allow ballot curing for ballots missing the required secrecy envelope – plain and simple. The RNC and PAGOP are fighting to uphold the law in Butler County and protect voter confidence in Pennsylvania.”

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Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas added, “Voters deserve to have a transparent and fair electoral process, which is why PAGOP has intervened in this lawsuit. We are at a critical point in our Nation, and it is of the utmost importance that we have orderly administration of this November’s election. We will continue to fight to ensure that our elections are fair and safe.”

“The Department of State has taken it upon itself to unilaterally reach out to voters whose mail-in ballots have been rejected due to a perceived lack of a secrecy envelope and encourage them to cure such ballots by appearing in person and voting provisionally,” the lawsuit adds. “To be clear, there is no right under Pennsylvania law to cure mail-in ballots which lack a secrecy envelope and Petitioners’ attempt to create such a right where none exists should be rejected. Indeed, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has already concluded that naked ballots, ie. mail-in ballots which were submitted without the required secrecy envelope, are defective and cannot be counted.”