Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman defended the decision by some Democratic officials to count invalid ballots, raising concerns about influencing the outcome of the Senate race between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick.
On Thursday, Democratic members of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners voted to include misdated and undated ballots in the count, despite a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court deeming such ballots invalid under state law. Diane Ellis-Marseglia, one of the Democratic commissioners, acknowledged that counting these ballots violates the law but stated she would support their inclusion regardless.
“People violate laws anytime they want,” Ellis-Marseglia said. “For me if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it.”
Fetterman defended the Democrats’ actions when questioned by CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
“I think you just pointed out that it refers to 115 ballots, and that’s not gonna have an impact on this race at this point. So what’s — where we are now: It’s very, very close and I guarantee you if Dave McCormick were in the opposite situation where he was down 15 to 17,000 votes, he would absolutely want to have every last vote counted as well, too,” Fetterman said. “We’re going to count every last vote.”
.@SenFettermanPA on the ongoing fight in the Pennsylvania Senate election: "We're going to count every last vote." pic.twitter.com/n7PmswzqJv
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) November 17, 2024
Fetterman suggested that if a recount shows Casey falling short, he would likely “do the right thing” and concede. However, this assumption clashes with reality. The Associated Press has already called the race for McCormick, and even The Washington Post Editorial Board criticized Democrats for attempting to manipulate the election. Despite this, Casey has yet to concede and has instead enlisted election strategist Marc Elias to contest the outcome.
Elias, notably, prolonged the 2008 Minnesota Senate recount for months, ultimately persuading a judge to approve the inclusion of disputed provisional ballots. This effort resulted in Democrat Al Franken, initially trailing, securing victory by just 312 votes months after Election Day. Now, Casey appears to be banking on a similar strategy to overturn the current result.
The reality is that Democrats are attempting to manipulate this election, and their party appears indifferent because they have consistently disregarded election integrity. For years, they portrayed themselves as champions of fair elections, but this was merely a façade. Their primary objective remains blocking Republican victories, regardless of the tactics employed.
