Admitting to breaking the law shortly before Donald Trump takes over the Justice Department is a decision made by two Pennsylvania election officials in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In a shocking video, Democratic Commissioner Diane Marseglia can be heard announcing that she will deliberately ignore several court rulings to count illegal votes.
The focus is on a contentious Senate race in which Republican Dave McCormick defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Casey. Yet Democrats in Pennsylvania continue to try to manipulate votes to overturn the result.
SEE: Dave McCormick wins Pennsylvania Senate race
If you want to know what election manipulation looks like, then this is for you.
DIGIROLAMO: We reject all three categories of these ballots.
RECORDER: Your motion is to deny or dismiss the challenges in this category?
DIGIROLAMO: Right, yes.
MARSEGLIA: I will not support that, especially because we all know that court precedent no longer matters in this country and people will break the law at any time. So if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it.
The background is the counting of ballot papers that do not pass the signature tests provided for in Pennsylvania law (among other exclusion situations). Multiple courts, including the state Supreme Court, have upheld these laws. Yet Marseglia, along with fellow Democratic commissioner Bob Harvie, voted to count them anyway, not out of ignorance but with an acknowledgment that they were breaking the law.
I realize the courts will almost certainly step in and put a stop to this, but what if the courts didn’t even know about it? What if Republicans didn’t have the resources to file the necessary lawsuits? That’s what’s so concerning here. How often does something like this happen and we not Are you finding out about this because these county commissioners or whatever they are called in other states never say this publicly?
For context: Marseille approved Kamala Harris before the election. Yes, one of the people tasked with honestly counting the votes promised to “deliver” Bucks County to the Vice President.
Will this ultimately change the outcome of Pennsylvania’s Senate election? It seems that this is unlikely. Even if a court doesn’t intervene, there aren’t enough ballots outstanding to change the outcome (or at least that’s what McCormick’s team tells me).
Other than that, I don’t care. An example needs to be made of these two. The Trump Justice Department must prosecute Marseglia and Harvie to the fullest extent of the law. Both are knowingly violating the law on video, and if they get away with it, imagine what they and others will do in the next election. The only way to defend against this kind of undermining of our elections is to create deterrence. Election officials should face prison time just like any voter who violates election laws.
As for the Republican response, the Pennslyvania GOP and RNC are completely at odds on this issue, and you can expect legal action to be taken very soon to prevent these illegal ballots from being counted. But what if they didn’t know this had happened? What if this all happened behind closed doors? If the majority of Americans are ever to trust elections in the United States, this is where the hammer must fall. Hard.
