Pennsylvania Republicans refusing to seat Democrat who won State Senate seat

[The Dowager Mod]

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/spl/john-fetterman-pennsylvania-senate-removed-republicans-jim-brewster-20210105.html
Democracy is dying from thousands of small cuts in America.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/spl/john-fetterman-pennsylvania-senate-removed-republicans-jim-brewster-20210105.html

The new session of the Pennsylvania Senate got off to a chaotic start Tuesday, with Republicans refusing to seat a Democratic senator whose election victory has been certified by state officials.

Amid high emotions and partisan fingerpointing, Republicans also took the rare step of removing the Democratic lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, from presiding over the session. They apparently did so because they did not believe Fetterman was following the rules and recognizing their legislative motions.

Democrats, in turn, responded by refusing to back Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre) from assuming the chamber’s top leadership position — an unusual maneuver on what is most often a largely ceremonial and bipartisan vote.


The bitterness and rancor on display was a departure from the normally staid and sedate workings of the chamber. And it potentially sets the stage for a tumultuous two-year session, which will include debate over key legislative priorities such as redistricting.


For now, at least, Democratic state Sen. Jim Brewster, of Allegheny County, will not be allowed to take the oath of office, as Republicans believe litigation over the outcome in his race must first play out in the courts.

Brewster narrowly won reelection over Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli, who is asking a federal judge to throw out the election results. At the heart of that legal dispute is several hundred mail ballots that lacked a handwritten date on an outer envelope, as required by state law. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed those ballots to be counted, which gave Brewster the edge in the race.

[7,052,770]

This is America under the kkkult of Trump. No, he didn't cause every problem we have, but he sure dumped metaphorical gasoline all over them and lit them.

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

Jesus Christ, what a mess. This sucks.

[The Dowager Mod]

19 seconds. 

[NewYorkExpress]

19 seconds. 

Apparently great minds think alike.

[President Johnson]

I said it back in November, and I'm saying it again: The Republican Party and its elected officials must ask themselves the question whether they're actually supporting democracy or whether they just want to pretend democracy and support authoritarianism instead. It's truly mind boggling that a major political party of a global superpower is in such a state.

[Mr. Illini]

Openly and transparently illiberal. This party is beyond gone. Anyone who cares about our system of government and is still voting for them needs to stop.

[Inmate Trump]

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/spl/john-fetterman-pennsylvania-senate-removed-republicans-jim-brewster-20210105.html
Democracy is dying from thousands of small cuts in America.

The common denominator is Trump/Republicans.

[Inmate Trump]

Anyway, it shouldn’t even be a thing that elected officials are only seated once confirmed by other elected officials.

[Crumpets]

I'm trying to remember in 2008 what the standard was for seating Al Franken after that election was the subject of so much litigation. Was it state certification, or was it something else? That seems like it could be a precedent for cases like this.

[Damocles]

Never change, PA. Never change.

[ProudModerate2]

More Fascism from Republicans.
Hmmmm ... Who would have thought?

[Progressive Pessimist]

The GOP are a cancer on this country's ability to function properly, and what's worse is that they are accepting their carcinogenic role in our republic in gleefully killing it.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

I thought it was common knowledge for the past ten years (jfc?) that the PAGOP openly did not believe in democracy. Remember Mike Turzai saying they passed Voter ID to help Romney win Pennsylvania?

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

So do any blue avatars want to explain why not having a hand written date on the outer envelope means your vote shouldn’t count?

[T'Chenka]

The hyper-partisanship has hit a point where democracy is now secondary in America. Almost all of this is Republicans doing it though to be fair. Shameful and disgusting. The founding fathers are rolling in their graves.

[TarHeelDem]

The GOP is a clear and present danger and must be ended.

[StateBoiler]

RRH Elections summary:

https://rrhelections.com/

Republicans in control of the Pennsylvania State Senate are refusing to seat the certified winner of a hotly-contested election in suburban Pittsburgh, arguing that the legal challenges in the election are still ongoing. The issue is that the Democrat’s entire margin of victory came from a small set of ballots from Allegheny County that don’t have a handwritten date on them, which makes them invalid per Pennsylvania election law. The GOP’s argument is that since a neighboring (and more Republican County) threw out its own date-less ballots as invalid, counting the ballots from Allegheny County alone constitutes a violation of the equal protection clause. The issue has already been decided in the Democrat’s favor by the State Supreme Court, but Republicans are attempting to sue in Federal Court a la Bush v Gore.

[Former President tack50]

RRH Elections summary:

https://rrhelections.com/

Republicans in control of the Pennsylvania State Senate are refusing to seat the certified winner of a hotly-contested election in suburban Pittsburgh, arguing that the legal challenges in the election are still ongoing. The issue is that the Democrat’s entire margin of victory came from a small set of ballots from Allegheny County that don’t have a handwritten date on them, which makes them invalid per Pennsylvania election law. The GOP’s argument is that since a neighboring (and more Republican County) threw out its own date-less ballots as invalid, counting the ballots from Allegheny County alone constitutes a violation of the equal protection clause. The issue has already been decided in the Democrat’s favor by the State Supreme Court, but Republicans are attempting to sue in Federal Court a la Bush v Gore.

RRH is very likely to not be an unbiased source, but if that is true I will be the first to admit that it makes sense to temporarily not seat said state senator until the relevant federal courts have either accepted or dismissed the case.

In fact, I'd even be likely to side with the Republicans on this one. If ballots with no date are invalid according to Pennsylvania law, they should be discarded and not counted in the final result, which would give the seat to the Republican candidate.

Of course that is assuming everything RRH says is true.

[Former President tack50]

So do any blue avatars want to explain why not having a hand written date on the outer envelope means your vote shouldn’t count?

If the law says that a hand written date in the outer envelope is needed in order for your vote to count, then it is needed for your vote to count. It may be a nonsense law, but it is the law nontheless.

Why should the law be violated?

[Mr. Matt]

Is there a way that would formally tie the lack-of-date outer envelopes to actual Brewster votes or are the outer envelopes just tossed aside and the ballots are then separated from them for all eternity? There could very likely be Ziccarelli votes in that batch if it's the latter case.

[Benjamin Frank]

RRH Elections summary:

https://rrhelections.com/

Republicans in control of the Pennsylvania State Senate are refusing to seat the certified winner of a hotly-contested election in suburban Pittsburgh, arguing that the legal challenges in the election are still ongoing. The issue is that the Democrat’s entire margin of victory came from a small set of ballots from Allegheny County that don’t have a handwritten date on them, which makes them invalid per Pennsylvania election law. The GOP’s argument is that since a neighboring (and more Republican County) threw out its own date-less ballots as invalid, counting the ballots from Allegheny County alone constitutes a violation of the equal protection clause. The issue has already been decided in the Democrat’s favor by the State Supreme Court, but Republicans are attempting to sue in Federal Court a la Bush v Gore.

RRH is very likely to not be an unbiased source, but if that is true I will be the first to admit that it makes sense to temporarily not seat said state senator until the relevant federal courts have either accepted or dismissed the case.

In fact, I'd even be likely to side with the Republicans on this one. If ballots with no date are invalid according to Pennsylvania law, they should be discarded and not counted in the final result, which would give the seat to the Republican candidate.

Of course that is assuming everything RRH says is true.

I think the issue is why should the district lose representation in the state senate due to some possible error made by one group of county officials or the other.

The race has been certified, the case can go ahead while the state senator serves.