GOP lawmakers press Philly voting officials on ballot rules

Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania House threatened Friday to seek removal of two Democratic elections officials in Philadelphia for counting mail-in ballots that had not been handdated by the voters.

GOP caucus leaders sent letters to Lisa Deeley, who chairs the city’s voting board, and fellow board member Omar Sabir, arguing that state law requires the dates, even though the envelopes are postmarked.

The question of whether the hand-written dates are mandatory went before the state Supreme Court last year, during the first year of a new law that permits anyone to vote by mail. State law previously had required absentee voters to cite one of a very limited number of excuses in order to vote by mail.

The swing vote in that case, Justice David Wecht, permitted undated ballots to be counted but said his position pertained only to 2020, not to future elections.

Wecht wrote that the declarations on the ballot envelopes are not optional.

“Thus, in future elections, I would treat the date and sign requirement as mandatory in both particulars, with the omission of either item sufficient without more to invalidate the ballot in question,” Wecht wrote.

The Republican leaders told Deeley and Sabir that if they allow such undated ballots from the May 18 primary to be counted, the House will seek the officials’ removal from office through the impeachment process. Messages seeking comment were left for Deeley and Sabir.

The Democratic leader of the House, Rep. Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia, said the General Assembly should focus on making voting simpler and easier and stop what she called partisan games.

“It’s troubling that the same House Republicans who demanded Congress refuse to count millions of Pennsylvania’s ballots last November are now threatening Philadelphia’s election commissioners for counting citizen ballots legally cast in the primary,” McClinton said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Philadelphia City Commission, the city’s elections board, voted 2-1 this week to count the ballots. Deeley and Sabir, who voted “yes,” are Democrats. The board’s lone Republican, Al Schmidt, voted against it.

The Inquirer said undated mail-in ballots are also being counted in the suburban counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery.

House Republican spokesperson Jason Gottesman said the GOP caucus wants Deeley and Sabir to “take corrective action to ensure that the law is followed.”