McCormick’s lawsuit to count all votes by mail angered the Republican Party

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Mehmet Oz is leading Dave McCormick, garnering just under a thousand votes to nominate Republicans to the Senate. McCormick went to court in a move that splits the Republican Party.

In a lawsuit filed first in the Commonwealth Court, McCormick and his campaign committee are asking the court to order the counting of all undated but timely ballots.

In a statement to KDKA, Chuck Cooper, McCormick’s chief legal counsel, said: “Since all ballots indicate the time of the county election commission upon receipt, the date written by the voter’s hand does not make sense. To be counted.”

State law requires voters to sign and date the outer envelope of their ballots, but last Friday the federal appeals court ruled that if the ballot was received in a timely manner, the date is missing.

In this case, issued by the Pennsylvania ACLU in a judicial election, voters who mailed, who forgot to fill in the date in both parties, wanted their votes counted. Citing civil rights laws protecting the right to vote, the court agreed.

“They said yes, in fact, the date doesn’t matter, which means you can’t stop voters from counting ballots just because they forgot the date,” said CDC’s Vic Walczak, legal director of the ACLU Pennsylvania. editor John Delano.

In this case, McCormick, who has so far won 13,000 more ballots than Oz, clearly wants all the votes in the mail counted hoping to close the gap with the country of Oz.

In a statement posted on Twitter by Oz from his campaign manager, Oz accused McCormick of “following Democrats’ recommendations”, adding that Oz would oppose McCormick’s request that district election commissions ignore the state election law.

Walczak says both candidates are acting rationally, taking into account their political interests.

“I think it makes sense for McCormick to want them counted. On the other hand, if you win now, you want to ban any new ballots that come into the mix, so you see Oz on the other side saying, ‘No, no, no. You can’t count them. “

McCormick’s office – count all the votes – sounds like Democrats accusing Republicans of suppressing votes, so it’s no surprise that neither the state nor the Republican party is happy with McCormick’s actions.

Walczak defends McCormick’s act.

“People who forget to mark the date on the ballot should count the ballots. This is not a reason to deprive these individuals of their voting rights, and I think it is in the best tradition to ensure that the ballots are counted as much as possible. ” Says Walczak.

A federal court has ruled that federal civil rights laws that protect the right to vote take precedence over state law before the voting date, until the ballot arrives on time. But Oz and his company have vowed to oppose the lawsuit, saying in a statement that state law should not be ignored.

Joining the fight on behalf of Oz, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania wrote on Twitter that it would intervene against McCormick, saying: “We strongly oppose the counting of ballots by mail without a date.”

In another statement, Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas said the party “protects the rights of 2022 and future candidates” and “in no way alters the party’s neutrality in these primaries.”

Republican National Chairman Ron McDaniel joined in by tweeting that the National Republican Party would also intervene against McCormick, noting, “Electoral law must be obeyed. We are interfering in the legal battle in Pennsylvania … The law of Pennsylvania is clear: undated absentee ballots may not be taken into account. “

While state law may be clear, the ACLU says both the state Supreme Court and now the federal appeals court have ruled in other cases in favor of counting ballots without a date if they are received in a timely manner.

On Tuesday afternoon, McCormick’s company appealed directly to the state’s Supreme Court, urging him to use his emergency powers at the Royal Bench to take the case immediately.