Pennsylvania court rules batch of votes invalid, cannot be counted

A Pennsylvania judge handed the Trump campaign a victory on Thursday ordering that a batch of votes cannot be counted because they came in after the deadline required to provide voter identification.

It is unclear how many ballots are affected.

Matt Morgan, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, called it “a win for the Trump campaign and voters alike” in the state where several lawsuits filed by the campaign are still pending.

The ruling “supported our continued assertion that the Secretary of State continues to play fast and loose with statutory deadlines, and has done so throughout this entire election,” Morgan said.

The judge ruled that the secretary of state lacked the authority to change a deadline for proving voter identification, which she did just two days before the election. Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar tried to extend the deadline from six days after the election until nine days this year until Nov. 12.

The court ruled it was not within her purview to do so.

“[T]he Court concludes that Respondent Kathy Boockvar, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Commonwealth, lacked statutory authority to issue the November 1, 2020, guidance to Respondents County Boards of Elections insofar as that guidance purported to change the deadline … for certain electors to verify proof of identification,” Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt said in a court order.

The Trump campaign has filed several lawsuits in Pennsylvania claiming voter fraud and petitioning the Supreme Court to consider whether the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s granting of a three-day extension for accepting mail-in ballots was lawful.

The mainstream media and his opponents have criticized Trump for pursuing a recount and filing lawsuits in battleground states, with one reported even accusing him of spreading "deranged" conspiracy theories and others calling his supporters "unhinged."

“President Trump, instead, is retweeting these deranged voting software conspiracy theories instead of doing the number one job for a president, to protect the lives of the American people,” said CNN's Jake Tapper.

Meanwhile, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton issued a statement this week to remind people that, despite media pushback, "Joe Biden is not 'president-elect.'"

"Changing results after Election Day raises significant legal and constitutional concerns, and President Trump should use available legal and constitutional remedies to help ensure the election results can be trusted by the American people," Fitton said. "It is not normal for multiple states to be counting presidential votes for days after Election Day. And it raises significant concerns about the validity of post-election counts."

"Judicial Watch has long warned of the chaos and increased risk of fraud from recklessly mailing 100 million ballots and ballot applications," the statement continued. "Our most recent research, in September, revealed that 353 U.S. counties had 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible voting-age citizens. In other words, the registration rates of those counties exceeded 100% of eligible voters."