Weeks after Election Day 2020 – and with many in the media calling former Vice President Joe Biden “President-Elect” – we still don’t know the final results of what has probably been the most controversial election since the hanging chads of 2000. At the heart of the confusion is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Last week, it looked as if it was all over but the crying for Team Trump – but will recent events in the Keystone State give the president something else to be grateful for this Thanksgiving?
Hearing Complaints
November 25, just a day before Thanksgiving, Republicans in Pennsylvania held a nearly-four-hour-long hearing on voter fraud. President Trump had planned to attend, but canceled last minute, allegedly due to concerns about exposure to coronavirus. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani did attend, however, and the president addressed the event briefly by calling and having Giuliani put him on speakerphone.
“This was an election that we won easily. We won it by a lot,” Trump said. “This election was rigged and we can’t let that happen,” he continued. The president cited “horror stories” he heard from election workers who claimed ballots were “dumped all over the place.” One elderly woman, he said, showed up to vote and was told she already had. Of course, she had not, and so she was given a provisional ballot.
Amongst the allegations of election fraud are the claims that many mail-in ballots were submitted from beyond the grave and that thousands of Biden ballots were mysteriously delivered to some polling stations. During the hearing, Giuliani discussed the claim that the Trump campaign has no evidence of fraud and pointed out the difference between proof and evidence. Additionally, Giuliani pointed out that of course the election officials would say there is no fraud – what should we expect when we ask them to investigate themselves?
Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-PA), during his concluding remarks, wondered why we have stealth technology that is the envy of the world, yet we can’t run an election that is more secure than one in Afghanistan. His conclusion? The flaws in the system must be intentional. “We move Heaven and Earth with American dollars to secure elections in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere, but we can’t do it in our own state? It’s by design,” he declared. “There’s people in Pennsylvania not interested in safe, secure elections.” He also reminded folks of the Marks v. Stinson case after the special election of 1993. In 1994, a federal district judge threw out the election results and removed Democrat William Stinson from the Pennsylvania Senate and awarded Republican Bruce S. Marks the seat because the election had been so corrupted for the Democrat through fraud. This, Mastriano said, makes a handy precedent for federal courts today. “Has our election results here in Pennsylvania, at the presidential and at other levels, been so corrupted that the results have to be thrown out,” he asked, saying it would be a case to be made before the Supreme Court.
Democrats Disagree
Is it any surprise – especially given Giuliani’s point that asking people accused of corruption to investigate themselves is pointless – that the officials responsible denounce these allegations? The state’s election results were certified just one day before this hearing. The Democrats won, the Democrats are the ones accused of fraud, and it’s the Democrats who certified the potentially fraudulent results and who now say these accusers are full of it.
Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro wrote, “The sitting president’s remarks today were devoid of reality. The election is over. Pennsylvania has certified results & declared Joe Biden the winner of our Commonwealth.”
He’s a Democrat and a part of the establishment accused of corruption.
Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman said, “It was an odd mix of snake handling and Amway in a hotel ballroom. It wasn’t a Senate hearing, there was nothing official about it. It was just some weird revival centered around lies about Pennsylvania’s election.”
He’s a Democrat and a part of the establishment accused of corruption.
Governor Tom Wolf said earlier in the post-election controversy, “Let’s be clear: This is a partisan attack on Pennsylvania’s elections, our votes, and democracy. Our counties are working tirelessly to process votes quickly AND as accurately as possible. Pennsylvania will have a fair election and we will count every vote.”
Now, unlike the other two, this guy has no reason to lie. He’s a complete outsider and a Republican to boot. Just kidding. He’s also a Democrat and a part of the establishment accused of corruption. See the trend yet?
Not So Fast, Pennsylvania …
Whether anything comes of the election fraud hearing or not, President Trump may still have something to be thankful for. On the very same day, Commonwealth Judge Patricia McCullough ordered the state to take no further steps to complete the certification process.
Plaintiffs allege that the vote-by-mail law, Act 77, violates the state constitution. According to the suit:
“As with prior historical attempts to illegally expand mail-in voting by statute, which have been struck down going as far back as the Military Absentee Ballot Act of 1839, Act 77 is another illegal attempt to override the limitations on absentee voting prescribed in the Pennsylvania Constitution, without first following the necessary procedure to amend the constitution to allow for the expansion.”
The request was submitted after the state announced the certification of the presidential election results on Nov. 24, and the ruling that came the next day holds up the process until after a hearing on the contested election can be held on Friday, Nov. 27. Naturally, state officials filed a notice of appeal immediately, informing the court they were appealing McCullough’s decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Will this lead to thousands of suspect mail-in ballots being discarded – a Thanksgiving miracle that could turn the state back to the president – or will it fall flat, leaving Team Trump looking like a bunch of turkeys?
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Read more from James Fite.
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