Major news just broke in a key battleground state. Today, a Pennsylvania judge ordered state officials to not certify the results of the 2020 election until her court holds a hearing on an election contest on November 27.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Judge Patricia McCullough has officially ordered the state to not take any further steps to finalize the certification of the presidential race, which the state had announced on November 24. McCullough also blocked certification of all other election results at the state and local levels.
NEWS: Pennsylvania judge blocks state from certifying election results in presidential and all other races.@EpochTimes
Source: https://t.co/KD2QqGFCPj pic.twitter.com/sP7hecZnjr
— Ivan Pentchoukov (@IvanPentchoukov) November 25, 2020
“To the extent that there remains any further action to perfect the certification of the results of the 2020 General Election for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States of America, respondents are preliminarily enjoined from doing so, pending an evidentiary hearing to be held on Friday,” the judge wrote in her order (pdf).
“Respondents are preliminarily enjoined from certifying the remaining results of the election, pending the evidentiary hearing,” the order read.
McCullough will be presiding over a lawsuit brought by GOP lawmakers and candidates against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, and the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The plaintiffs in the case include Republican Pennsylvania Representative Mike Kelly, Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell, and Pennsylvania House of Representatives candidate Wanda Logan.
The plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit that Act 77, Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail statute, violates the state’s constitution.
“Act 77 is the most expansive and fundamental change to the Pennsylvania voting code, implemented illegally, to date,” the lawsuit states.
“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 lawsuit continues.
After the state announced that the presidential election results had been certified on November 24, the plaintiffs filed an emergency request just before midnight, which argued that there was no reason to act so fast. In the 2016 election, Pennsylvania didn’t certify its results until December 12.
“It appears that respondents’ actions may have been accelerated in response to the application for emergency relief … in an effort to preclude any remedial action by this court faster than this court was able to evaluate the application for emergency relief and the answers to it,” the plaintiffs wrote.
“While Respondents may have proactively attempted to avoid potential injunctive relief granted by this Court, Respondents duties with regard to finalization of the full election results are far from complete,” the filing states.
A top attorney in the Democrats’ post-election legal battles, Marc Elias, called the lawsuit frivolous.
“Republican Congressman Mike Kelly has filed a new frivolous lawsuit in Pennsylvania seeking to block the state from certifying the election results and having the state legislature choose electors. This is absolutely shameful,” Elias wrote on Twitter on November 21.
🚨BREAKING: Republican Congressman Mike Kelly has filed a new frivolous lawsuit in Pennsylvania seeking to block the state from certifying the election results and having the state legislature choose electors.
This is absolutely shameful.https://t.co/KgtT3qohX9
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) November 21, 2020
President Donald Trump responded to Elias, writing: “This is not at all frivolous. It is brought on behalf of one of the most respected members of the United States Congress who is disgusted, like so many others, by an Election that is a fraudulent mess. Fake ballots, dead people voting, no Republican Poll Watchers allowed, & more!”
According to the Epoch Times, “Wolf signed Act 77 into law on Oct. 31, 2019. Eight of the nine sponsors of the bill in the Pennsylvania Senate were Republicans.”
