The Republican Politician National Committee (RNC) is suing Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to push for more transparency when it comes to the county’s processes for counting absentee tallies, Breitbart News has found out exclusively.
The suit represents an escalation by the GOP in an effort to develop uniformity in the Keystone State when it comes to the procedure of absentee tally counting, with numerous counties in the state still resisting openness and reform efforts.
“The RNC is suing the Bucks County Board of Elections since Pennsylvanians are worthy of transparent elections,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel informed Breitbart News. “Declining to share important info about how absentee ballots are counted is unacceptable. This is yet another example of how the RNC is fighting for election integrity in courts across the nation: whether it’s non-citizens ballot in New york city City or regional election boards hiding info, we hold Democrats liable.”
Filed Friday in the Court of Common Pleas in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the RNC suit versus the Bucks County Board of Elections seeks to compel the county to supply documents and info the RNC formerly filed formal requests for relating to the procedure for absentee tally counting in Pennsylvania elections. The county previously rejected the details through the formal demand, and the RNC seeks to have the court reverse that rejection and force the county to comply with the general public records requests.
The original demand from the RNC sought numerous products, per the claim. “Any and all interactions from the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Elections, regarding the counting, processing, treating, or rejection of mail-in or absentee ballots for the 2020 General Election” is the first product noted.
The next eight products looked for are as follows, priced quote straight from the claim:
- Any and all interactions to the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Elections, concerning the counting, processing, curing, or rejection of mail-in or absentee tallies for the 2020 General Election.
- Any and all interactions from the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Elections, concerning training for poll employees and judges of elections for the 2020 General Election.
- Any and all documents examined or used by the Bucks County Board of Elections relating to the counting, processing, curing, or rejection of mail-in or absentee ballots for the 2020 General Election.
- Any and all documents relating to and/or connecting to any training sessions concerning the treatments to be used in counting, processing, treating, or rejection of mail-in or absentee ballots for the 2020 General Election.
- Any and all documents reflecting the procedure utilized to count, process, remedy, or turn down mail-in or absentee ballots for the 2020 General Election.
- Any and all files relied upon and/or referred to during the Canvass, as that term is described in the Pennsylvania Election Code.
- Any and all interactions to or from any worker or employee of the Bucks County Board of elections, consisting of the administrator of mail-in elections regarding the counting, processing, curing, or rejection of mail-in or absentee ballots for the 2020 General Election.
- Any strategy, documents, training products, or other products created or utilized by the Bucks County Board of Elections, its employees, officers, or agents for creating the system used to procedure, count, treatment, or decline mail-in or absentee tallies for the 2020 General Election.
In the beginning, per the RNC lawsuit, Bucks County sought extensions from the deadline Pennsylvania open records laws impose on such demands– however then later formally denied the demand. The RNC appealed the rejection to the state Workplace of Open Records, where the demand was also denied. This claim is the next step in attempting to acquire all that info as the GOP looks for to control the left when it pertains to election matters in Pennsylvania and other states.
Bucks County is likewise not the only Pennsylvania where the GOP is combating this matter. Similar fights are playing out in Berks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and Allegheny counties too. Celebration authorities say they are prepared to bring similar suits versus other counties that withstand the production of these records, like Bucks County is doing.
RNC officials told Breitbart News that during the 2020 election in Pennsylvania, counties did not have uniformity in how absentee tallies were counted which some counties permitted citizens to “treat” what election officials thought about “malfunctioning ballots” while other counties did not permit treating of ballots– something that the party believes negatively impacted Republican citizens, while disparately helping Democrat citizens, in the state of Pennsylvania.
The RNC is attempting to, through these efforts, force counties throughout Pennsylvania to be transparent in how they process and count absentee ballots– several of these nations are notoriously secretive about the procedure, as evidenced by the official denials of the open records requests. What’s more, RNC authorities think that as soon as the information on the process is available and transparent, it could offer the basis for a bigger lawsuit and legal action requiring an uniformity statewide on the process of handling absentee ballots.
This newest action begins the heels of a state court in Pennsylvania in late January striking down Act 77, the state law that retiring Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf used as the basis for the state’s 2020 election activities.