Republican Sam DeMarco, a member of the Elections Board, said he voted 'no' to certify in Allegheny County as a protest. One of the key items he protested: The legislature and governor unable to come to a deal on precanvassing.

Want to highlight some of WTAE's reporting on this.
September 21 (6 weeks before election day)

We told you how Democrats and Republicans agreed there needed to be a change to the law. At that time 2 million Pennsylvanians had requested mail-ballots, and not counting until Election Day could be an issue.

wtae.com/article/commit…
September 29 (5 weeks before election day)

A @timelywriter story highlighting concerns from County's, asking legislature to pass something.

"Counties need additional time to process mail-in ballots so we can have more counted on Election Day"

wtae.com/article/pennsy…
October 7 (4 weeks)

We sit in on a press conference by PA County Commissioners urging legislature again for precanvass. House GOP says they've passed HB 2626 that had a provision, but Wolf said he'd veto it b/c of other issues. Wolf urges "clean" bill.

wtae.com/article/lawmak…
October 19 (2 weeks)

We ask legislators on both sides. They agree this needs to be done. House GOP sticks with 2626 and says they won't pass a clean bill. Wolf says he's talking, but it's not going anywhere.

wtae.com/article/prospe…
October 20 (the next day)

@JimWTAE talks with election administrators in Westmoreland County who say it's not too late, and they'd take any precanvassing they could get, worried it would take a long time to report results.

wtae.com/article/please…
October 23 (10 days before Election)

With no precanvassing agreement, we tell you that in-person votes will be added first, then mail-in ballots counted later since counties couldn't precanvass. We report elections officials saying results could change.

wtae.com/article/dont-w…
October 27 (1 week)

We've pressed governor & republican leadership. They don't publicly say much.

Governor Wolf then says a deal was on the table and he made concessions and was going to agree to.

He says Rs pulled deal, Rs say there never was one.

wtae.com/article/gov-wo…
There are other stories we did. But these were some of the highlights. The period of confusion after the election was avoidable in this one sense. We'll see what, if any, precanvassing deal may happen in the next legislative session.

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More from @DKaplanWTAE

25 Nov
JUST IN:

Commonwealth court orders a Friday hearing on the Mike Kelly/Sean Parnell lawsuit asking to throw away all mail-in ballots.

Also says to pause all activity as it relates to certification.

Unclear what this means, since PA election has formally been certified.

#WTAE Image
Here's my thread Saturday which gives some context and color to what the lawsuit is about.

As to potential impacts:

We told you yesterday about additional certifications that take place on county levels as judges rule.

For example, Allegheny County Elections Board certified yesterday, but was set to meet at 2 today to certify additional ballots that courts ruled on. Image
Read 11 tweets
24 Nov
JUST IN:

Trump campaign announces hearings in PA, Michigan and Arizona legislatures.

Rudy Giuliani says important to "have a full vetting of election irregularities and fraud".

This, as the Trump legal team has NOT proven widespread, intentional, malicious fraud in a courtroom ImageImage
The day Pennsylvania's certification is announced, Central Pennsylvania Senator Doug Mastriano announces this hearing which will have Rudy Giuliani as a witness.

Last paragraph of release

"State Legislatures have the sole authority to select their representatives to the Electoral College"

Pa has certified its election results.

Senate Republican leadership says legislature has no role in appointing electors.

Read 7 tweets
23 Nov
THREAD

Just finished a chat with Republican Elections Board member Sam DeMarco to ask about his "no" vote on Allegheny County Elections certification.

He is calling it a protest vote. Not because of fraud or any wrongdoing, he says ALL voters should have faith in the results. Image
DeMarco is critical of the Republican legislature AND Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.

His key point: No one worked together to pass things that would have contributed to a smooth election administration.
DeMarco says the legislature should have passed something. The governor should have worked with the legislature instead of going through the courts. That the courts rulings yielded changes NOT in Act 77, and Kathy Boockvar's guidance to counties created more confusion.
Read 9 tweets
23 Nov
Happy Monday Morning!

I'm monitoring an Allegheny County Board of Elections meeting happening now regarding certification of the November 3 election.

Meeting just called into order.

I'll post relevant updates into a thread here.
43 Emails in Public Comment:

5 urging to certify
19 urging to certify
4 saying thank you
11 with complaints
1 about provisional ballots

This meeting is strictly about certification, Fitzgerald says, adding they'll talk about improvements at a later date.
There's a move to certify everything SANS ballots that are still being litigated.

Sam DeMarco, Republican on the board, asks what happens if any litigation requires changes to tally.

Solicitor says they'd have to reconvene and have a separate vote to amend the certification.
Read 9 tweets
21 Nov
BREAKING:

Federal Judge Matthew Brann has dismissed the Trump Campaign lawsuit and has included some strong language in his opinion.

"...This court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations...unsupported by evidence."
BRANN: "In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state. Our people, laws, and institutions demand more."

Reading through more of opinion now. Additions to thread shortly.
One of Trump campaign's arguments was an inconsistency btw counties about "curing" ballots. Secretary of State Boockvar gave a guidance to ALL counties about letting voters correct ballots, but it appears only SOME took advantage of that.

Brann says all counties had opportunity.
Read 11 tweets
21 Nov
Butler-Area representative Mike Kelly, PA-18 candidate Sean Parnell & others suing Pennsylvania to invalidate all mail-in ballots.

They're claiming that Act 77's provisions allowing mail-in voting are unconstitutional and certification of the election should be prohibited.
Act 77, Pennsylvania's new election code which expanded mail-in ballots, was passed by Republican majorities in both the House and Senate, and signed by Democratic Governor Tom Wolf.

This suit, filed today, weeks after the election, says Act 77 violates the PA constitution.
Suit acknowledges certification of results is underway and says if these votes are, in fact, invalidated, then it should be up to the Republican legislature to determine who Pennsylvania's electors should cast their votes for in the Electoral College.
Read 8 tweets

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