Jan. 04, 2022
HARRISBURG – In response to the Commonwealth Court’s decision to uphold current election law regarding mail-in ballots in Lehigh County, Rep. Seth Grove (R-Dover), chair of the House State Government Committee, issued the following statement:
“While I recognize the importance of the Commonwealth Court upholding Pennsylvania’s current election law when it ruled nearly 300 mail-in ballots shouldn’t be counted because of undated outer security envelopes, this is an issue which should have never been before the courts. This issue was settled in 2020, therefore rogue counties and election boards need to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits and administer elections on the law. Lehigh County should not seek an appeal and spend more taxpayers’ dollars on settled case law.
“Furthermore, the
Voting Rights Protection Act, which Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed, provided a means in which voters could cure, or fix, minor errors, such as not dating a security envelope, in relation to mail-in ballots. Unfortunately, because of Wolf’s veto, we are still seeing direct impacts of the governor’s ill-conceived veto of important election legislation.
“Fortunately, the reintroduced version of the Voting Rights Protection Act includes measures to provide a legislative resolve to this issue. I sincerely hope Wolf takes heed of these cases and recognizes the importance of this bill becoming law.
“Candidates and voters shouldn’t be left in limbo as they wait for election results like candidates and voters of Lehigh County are experiencing. Rather, we need a trusted, full-proof election process as proposed in the Voting Rights Protection Act.”