The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Republican Party of Pennsylvania (PAGOP) have filed to intervene in a Butler County lawsuit brought by two voters who want to enable the curing of mail-in ballots returned to election officials without a security sleeve.
The lawsuit was brought by two Pennsylvania voters who submitted mail-in ballots without the required security sleeve. According to their lawsuit, the voters later sought to cure their ballots but were instead allowed to cast provisional ballots that were ultimately not counted. They filed suit against the Butler County Board of Elections on April 29.
In a press release, the RNC warns that “plaintiffs aim to force the county to allow voters who did not return their mail ballots inside the required secrecy envelope to nevertheless vote by provisional ballot.”
The party maintains that the rule requiring the security envelopes “plays a crucial function in protecting election integrity because it prevents election officials from finding out who the voter voted for,” and there is “no basis” for the voters to force election officials to create a process to cure ballots without the security sleeves.
“If a vote is not legally cast, it should not be counted. Butler County does not allow ballot curing for ballots missing the required secrecy envelope – plain and simple,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley. He continued, “The RNC and PAGOP are fighting to uphold the law in Butler County and protect voter confidence in Pennsylvania.”
The legal filing by the RNC and PAGOP additionally alleges the Pennsylvania Department of State is contacting voters whose ballots are lacking the security envelopes.
“Petitioners here are voters whose ballots were unquestionably legally deficient, and yet after being contacted by the Department of State, now believe that they have a legal right to cure those deficiencies,” the party argued.
According to the filing, “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.”
Previously endorsed by former President Donald Trump for the job, Whatley began his tenure as the RNC Chairman in March alongside Vice Chairman Lara Trump.
Since taking control of the party, Whatley received praise for his decisions to embrace grassroots organizations, slash party overhead, and embrace mail-in and absentee voting as a strategy to increase voter turnout.
The PAGOP’s joint filing with the RNC comes after State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) urged Republicans to “stop sabotaging” one another and unify around Trump’s candidacy.
Pittsburgh-based national radio and television host John Fredericks, who is the publisher of The Pennsylvania Daily Star, similarly recently urged the PAGOP to embrace grassroots support after winning election to serve as a Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mail-In Ballot Drop Off” by Chris Phan. CC BY-SA 3.0.
