RNC, Pennsylvania GOP Seek to Intervene in Mail-In Ballot Case

The Republican National Committee continues its election integrity law blitz with an action on a mail-in ballot case in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

The action is the RNC’s third legal intervention since May 3.

A joint release from the two Republican bodies said the petitioners—Faith Genser and Frank Matis—are trying to force the county to allow voters who did not place a mail-in ballot in a secrecy envelope to cast a provisional ballot.

“If a vote is not legally cast, it should not be counted,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a release.

“Butler County does not allow ballot curing for ballots missing the required secrecy envelope—plain and simple.”

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The suit was initially filed on April 29 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Public Interest Law Center, and members of the firm Dechert LLP on behalf of the Butler County, Pennsylvania, voters.

“Every county in this commonwealth should provide people a chance to fix their mistakes and cast a ballot that can be counted,” Mike Lee, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a release.

“Every eligible voter who wants to participate in an election should have that opportunity.”

The center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Philadelphia.

According to its website, it works to “advance the civil, social, and economic rights of communities in the Philadelphia region facing discrimination, inequality, and poverty.”

The May 7 intervention is the RNC’s 84th active case across 25 states.

Under the leadership of Mr. Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump, the RNC is stepping up its election integrity efforts.

The Keystone State remains a desirable prize for both political parties in every election.

In 2016, former President Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since 1988.

According to the Republican’s petition to intervene, the petitioners are attempting to “turn the law … on its head.”

“Petitioners seek a ruling from the court which forces the Butler County Board of Elections … to permit them to cure their mail-in ballots, which they admit were defective under existing Pennsylvania law,” the petition says.

The petition went on to say the Pennsylvania Department of State is unilaterally reaching out to voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected due to the lack of a secrecy envelope.

The department is encouraging those voters to appear in person and cast a provisional ballot.

Pennsylvania’s Department of State is led by Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Al Schmidt, a Republican.

The existing law, set by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2020, deems mail-in ballots submitted without a secrecy envelope as defective. Those ballots cannot be counted.

In Pennsylvania, some county’s boards of elections are working to cure the deficient ballots while others are not.

This is allowed under the 2020 ruling, according to the petition.

In Butler County, it is up to the party committees to request a list of the names of voters who submitted a deficient ballot and then ask those voters to go to the county Bureau of Elections and sign an attestation to correct the lack of a signature.

“This is not the same as casting a provisional ballot,” the petition said.

Lawyers representing the Republicans also submitted a motion to dismiss and a brief in support of the motion. Both will be officially filed if the party committees are allowed to intervene in the case on behalf of the respondent.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Public Interest Law Center, Butler County, Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Elections, and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.