CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday shamed a Democratic election board official in Pennsylvania after she voted to willingly violate a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling regarding undated and misdated ballots in Bucks County, PA.
Bucks County chairman Robert Harviie Jr. and commissioner Diane Marseglia on Tuesday voted against a third colleague to count ballots that were misdated or undated, in defiance of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that considered undated ballots “invalid as a matter of law,” Bucks County Courier Times reports.
Pennsylvania is in the middle of an automatic recount for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Bob Casey. The Associated Press has called the race for Republican businessman Dave McCormick, making it one of at least three Senate seats the GOP flipped in 2024. CNN has yet to call the race.
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CNN’s Marshall Cohen on Friday joined host Jake Tapper to discuss the Bucks County election board vote.
“We're only talking about about a hundred ballots,” Cohen said Friday. “This is not going to tip the race — but in a recount, every vote matters.”
“When you vote provisional in PA, you need to sign the ballot twice,” Cohen explained. “They said, on this board, if it only has one signature, they will allow it. That's in defiance of what the state Supreme Court said before the election.You're really not supposed to defy the Supreme Court, and some of the comments from one of the democratic commissioners have gone absolutely viral on social media for the pretty strong stand that she took.”
CNN then played a clip of Marseglia arguing that she’s not going to follow the PA Supreme Court “because I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn't matter anymore in this country.”
“People violate laws anytime they want,” Marseglia argued Tuesday. “So for me, if I violate this law, it's because I want a court to pay attention to it.”
Cohen noted the move “will end up in court,” adding “there are plenty of lawsuits across the state that McCormick is still pursuing.”
Appearing stunned, Tapper summarized Marseglia's statement.
“So that woman is basically saying, ‘Well, Donald Trump is lawless, nothing matters anymore, so I’m going to do what I want to do,’” Tapper said. “That’s my interpretation.”
"Sounded like it,” Cohen replied.
“Yeah, that's not allowed!” Tapper exclaimed. “That's not going to stand. That’s pretty sleazy.”
Watch the full video below or at this link.