Blue-collar Pennsylvania county breaks decisively for GOP after 52 years



Statistics released on Monday by the Pennsylvania Department of State showed that a Democratic stronghold had flipped to the Republican column after 52 years.

After a concerted effort by Republicans to contact voters and persuade them to register, local officials said 87,415 people in Luzerne County had registered as Republicans while 87,332 had registered as Democrats.

'Our message has been received by the good people of Luzerne County.'

Republicans have topped Democrats by only 83 voter registrations.

While the gap between Republicans and Democrats is very narrow, the GOP had been able to erase the massive advantage Democrats had garnered by 2011 of 47,669 registrations.

“I’m excited and relieved that our message has been received by the good people of Luzerne County,” said Luzerne County Republican Party Chairman Gene Ziemba.

Democrats say young voters support their policies but are registering as independent in order to reject party labels.

The last time Luzerne County had more Republican registrations than Democratic registrations was in 1972, when Richard Nixon won a landslide victory against George McGovern. By 1976, the numbers had flipped after the Watergate scandal that ended with Nixon resigning. In that election, Luzerne had 101k Democratic registrations and only 64k Republican registrations.

Luzerne made headlines recently when officials decided to take down four drop boxes for mail-in ballots over concerns about election integrity and financial liability.

Democrats will have until Oct. 21 to try to make up the difference in registrations ahead of the general election to be held on November 5.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Justice Alito moves up deadline in Pennsylvania election fraud case, suggesting possible SCOTUS action



U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has moved up the deadline for Pennsylvania officials to respond to an election challenge filed by state Rep. Mike Kelly and other Republican state lawmakers, possibly signaling that the court may take up the case.

What are the details?

Alito had previously set the deadline for Dec. 9, one day after what is known as the "safe harbor date," the federal cutoff date for states to resolve election issues and lock in the their electors for the Electoral College vote on Dec. 14.

But on Sunday, Alito moved up the deadline for Pennsylvania officials to respond to Tuesday by 9 a.m. ET. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the move is significant because it "would give the court a few hours Tuesday to act on Kelly's request if it chooses to do so."

The plaintiffs in the case are seeking to have the court toss all of the state's mail-in ballots on the grounds that a state law passed in October 2019 that allows for no-excuse absentee voting is unconstitutional. The state constitution specifies that absentee votes can be cast for only a limited number of reasons.

Alito reportedly did not offer an explanation for the change, but nevertheless it is certainly a hopeful sign for efforts to challenge the state's election results. The Inquirer noted that Alito's original selection of the Dec. 9 deadline indicated to most legal observers that the court had no intention of acting on the case in a way that would alter the results.

Former Vice President Joe Biden currently leads incumbent President Donald Trump in the state by just over 80,000 votes. But should the courts rule that millions of mail-in ballots cast in the state be lost, it would effectively ensure a Pennsylvania victory for Trump as the election would be sent to the state's Republican-controlled legislature for a vote.

What else?

Despite the move seeming to provide a glimmer of hope for the president and his allies, some experts are arguing that the deadline change is nothing more than a symbolic gesture out of respect for the Republican lawmakers.

"I would not read too much into this," Richard L. Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California-Irvine, said in a blog post Sunday. "It shows more respect to the petitioners [Kelly], and does not make it look like the court is simply running out the clock on the petition. I still think the chances the court grants any relief on this particular petition are virtually zero."

In a unanimous decision late last month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit, essentially arguing that it arrived far too late and only came after the lawmakers' favored candidate lost.

Mark Makela/Getty Images

Judge orders Pennsylvania halt certification of election results as fight over mail-in ballots continues



A Pennsylvania judge has ordered state officials to stop any further action in the certification of election results in the Keystone State until her court is able to hold an evidentiary hearing scheduled on Friday.

Commonwealth Judge Patricia McCullough, issued the injunction order on Wednesday in response to an emergency request made by Republican lawmakers and candidates who claim that a state law allowing no-excuse absentee voting violated the state constitution.

"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," McCullough wrote in the injunction order. "Respondents are preliminarily enjoined from certifying the remaining results of the election, pending the evidentiary hearing."

McCullough is the presiding judge over a lawsuit brought by Republican lawmakers and candidates against the state, its general assembly, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.

The plaintiffs in the case allege that the statute in question, Act 77, "is the most expansive and fundamental change to the Pennsylvania voting code, implemented illegally, to date." They argue that in order for absentee voting to be expanded, a constitutional amendment is required, not just the passage of legislation.

"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 reads.

The plaintiffs filed the emergency request after they say state officials announced the certification of presidential election results prematurely. The state certified election results on Tuesday. In 2016, Pennsylvania certified the presidential election on Dec. 12, the Epoch Times noted.

Democratic Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro immediately responded to the news, vowing to appeal the order with the state Supreme Court.

This order does not impact yesterday's appointment of electors. We will be filing an appeal with the Pennsylvania S… https://t.co/2KHTSdmcIY
— AG Josh Shapiro (@AG Josh Shapiro)1606325861.0

News of the order broke as state lawmakers conducted a public hearing on "election issues and irregularities" in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Members of President Trump's legal team were present at the hearing.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Pennsylvania judge rules for Trump campaign, says secretary of state lacked authority to change ID deadline days before election



A Pennsylvania judge ruled in favor of the Trump campaign on Thursday, ordering that the state may not count ballots where voters did not provide proof of identification before Nov. 9.

Existing Pennsylvania law states that voters have up to six days after the election to cure issues with a ballot, such as a lack of identification. Election Day was Nov. 3 this year, meaning that voters had until Nov. 9 to correct their ballots.

In September, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots could be accepted three days after Election Day. The issue went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and following a 4-4 tie, Pennsylvania was permitted to accept ballots three days after Election Day.

Two days before Election Day, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D), who oversees elections in the state, issued a guidance that proof of ID could be provided up until Nov. 12 to cure ballots.

President Trump's legal team argued that Boockvar had no power to change the date. The ballots received from Nov. 10 through Nov. 12 were segregated until there was a ruling to determine if they would be counted or not.

On Thursday, Pennsylvania Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt ruled that Boockvar "lacked statutory authority" to enable an extension period to cure ballots.

"[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," Leavitt said in a court order.

"Accordingly, the court hereby orders the respondents County Board of Elections are enjoined from counting any ballots that have been segregated pursuant to Paragraph 1 of this court's order dated November 5, 2020, granting a special injunction," Leavitt wrote.

"None of the votes affected by the ruling had yet been included in the state's official tally," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. No indication was given on how many ballots were affected by Judge Leavitt's ruling.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden currently holds a 54,325-vote lead over President Trump in Pennsylvania.

Lawsuit: At least 21,000 dead people registered on Pennsylvania’s voter rolls



There are at least 21,000 dead people registered on the state of Pennsylvania's voter rolls, according to a lawsuit filed by a legal group.

A lawsuit filed on Thursday by the Public Interest Legal Foundation claims that there are tens of thousands of deceased registrants on voter rolls in Pennsylvania. The amended lawsuit filed against the Pennsylvania Department of State alleges that Pennsylvania failed to "reasonably maintain voter registration records under federal and state law" during the 2020 presidential election cycle.

The lawsuit alleges that a vast majority are from over a year ago. According to the lawsuit, 92% of the 21,000 deceased people on Pennsylvania's voter rolls died earlier than October 2019. Thousands of the alleged registered dead people reportedly died over five years ago.

"As of October 7, 2020, at least 9,212 registrants have been dead for at least five years, at least 1,990 registrants have been dead for at least ten years, and at least 197 registrants have been dead for at least twenty years … Pennsylvania still left the names of more than 21,000 dead individuals on the voter rolls less than a month before one of the most consequential general elections for federal officeholders in many years," the filing states.

The legal group claims that in 2016 and 2018, there were 216 instances of dead people voting.

"This case is about ensuring that those deceased registrants are not receiving ballots," PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said in a statement. "This case isn't complicated. For nearly a year, we've been offering specific data on deceased registrants to Pennsylvania officials for proper handling ahead of what was expected to be a tight outcome on Election Day.

"When you push mail voting, your voter list maintenance mistakes made years ago will come back to haunt in the form of unnecessary recipients and nagging questions about unreturned or outstanding ballots," Adams warned.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation is an Indiana-based 501(c)(3) public interest law firm founded in 2012 that claims it is "dedicated entirely to election integrity."

"The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections," the PILF website states. PILF has previously filed cases in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.

On Thursday, the Trump campaign filed a federal lawsuit in Nevada in an attempt to stop the counting of "illegal votes." The suit alleges that thousands of nonresidents and dead people have cast ballots in the state.

In Michigan, there were reports of extremely elderly voters, who would be so old that they would likely be deceased, mailing in absentee ballots. A viral social media post allegedly showed several people who were over 118 years old casting their ballots in the 2020 election. Michigan's secretary of state's office said the error is a glitch in the system.

Trump campaign responds to outfit that called Pennsylvania — and the election — for Biden: Not so fast



Decision Desk HQ called the Pennsylvania race for former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday at 8:50 a.m. ET. And with that, they declared Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

But the Trump campaign had a quick response: Not so fast; this thing's not over yet.

What happened?

Decision Desk HQ tweeted Friday morning, "Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273."

"Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America," the outfit continued. "Race called at 11-06 08:50 AM EST"

Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273… https://t.co/vIGWoADdse
— Decision Desk HQ (@Decision Desk HQ)1604670657.0

So far, Decision Desk is the only outlet to call Pennsylvania one way or the other. Everyone from Fox News to CNN and the New York Times still considers the Keystone State to be too close to call.

Naturally, the Trump campaign shot back a response quickly, attempting to quash any claims that the race is over.

"This election is not over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final," Trump 2020 campaign general counsel Matt Morgan said in a statement.

"Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail," he added.

Georgia's secretary of state announced Friday morning that the state would be going to a recount and that there are nearly 9,000 outstanding military ballots.

Morgan went on to note that there have been multiple accusations of voting irregularities in Pennsylvania and that those issues should preclude any declarations of a victor there.

"There were many irregularities in Pennsylvania, including having election officials prevent our volunteer legal observers from having meaningful access to vote counting locations," Morgan said. "We prevailed in court on our challenge, but were deprived of valuable time and denied the transparency we are entitled to under state law."

Then there are the alleged problems in Nevada, Morgan continued, saying, "In Nevada, there appear to be thousands of individuals who improperly cast mail ballots."

And the Trump team is still optimistic when it comes to Arizona. Their team believes the president can still pull out a win there.

"Finally, the President is on course to win Arizona outright, despite the irresponsible and erroneous 'calling' of the state for Biden by Fox News and the Associated Press," Morgan said. "Biden is relying on these states for his phony claim on the White House, but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected."

The latest batch of votes counted in Arizona did show Trump cutting into Biden's lead. However, they might not be enough, considering that Trump needs 58% of remaining ballots to go his way. He garnered only 51% of the most recent batch.

Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania; a win would put Biden over the 270 electoral vote threshold for the presidency



Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden took the lead in the Pennsylvania vote count early Friday morning, according to the New York Times. A win in Pennsylvania would put Biden over the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to take the presidency.

Just after 9 a.m., the vote totals stood at 3,295,304 for Biden and 2,289,717 for President Trump. The Times said that the remaining ballots left to be counted are coming from heavily Democratic areas in the state.

What are the details?

Trump had enjoyed a near-700,000 vote lead earlier in the week before batches of mail-in ballots in blue areas like Philadelphia and its surrounding counties started rolling in, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Democratic voters have heavily favored voting via mail-in ballots throughout the country.

Indeed the Times in a separate story reported early Wednesday that Biden was winning absentee ballots by an overwhelming margin, according to data from the secretary of state, and that he'd take the Keystone State — and its prized 20 electoral votes — if the trend continued.

As of about 9 a.m. Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of State election returns site reported Trump with a lead of just over 176,000, showing Biden closed the gap considerably, as late Wednesday morning he had just under 2.5 million votes, while Trump at the time had just over 3 million.

The Trump camp on Wednesday afternoon saw things differently.

"We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania," Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien said during a media call, according to Time White House Correspondent Tessa Berenson. "This is not based on gut or feel. This is based on math."

Anything else?

Members of Trump's campaign Thursday allegedly were not being permitted to observe ballot counting in the Philadelphia Convention Center despite a court order issued earlier in the day allowing them to do so.

A Philadelphia court ruled Thursday morning that poll watchers were allowed to be within six feet of ballot counting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center rather than the previous 20-foot perimeter, KYW-TV reported.

However, two videos posted to social media show Trump campaign representatives — including Corey Lewandowski — declaring that they were being blocked from observing the count.

The Associated Press reported late Wednesday that Trump's campaign sued to stop the Pennsylvania vote count over lack of "transparency" and was seeking to intervene in the Supreme Court case. Fox News said the lawsuit was meant to overturn a SCOTUS decision that allows Pennsylvania to continue counting mail-in ballots received after Tuesday until Friday, as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3.

Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images

Pennsylvania election results could take 'days'



Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said on Sunday that the "overwhelming majority" of the state's ballots will be counted — but not until several days after Election Day.

The presumed delay makes it increasingly likely that Americans won't know who has won the presidency until days after Tuesday, November 3, as election forecasters project the Keystone State to be the pivotal battleground on which the election will hinge.

What are the details?

Boockvar told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she expects in total there will be 10 times as many mail-in ballots in the state this year as there were in 2016. And in several counties, against her wishes, officials have said they won't start counting those ballots until Wednesday morning.

"So yes, it will take longer," she acknowledged. "I expect the overwhelming majority of ballots in Pennsylvania, that's mail-in absentee ballots as well as in-person ballots, will be counted within a matter of days."

She added that counties plan to have people counting "24/7 until it's done."

Though Boockvar seems to have intended the statement to be reassuring by granting that it will take days rather than weeks until results from the state are announced, the news is sure to garner a negative response from those who suggest delays in counting votes will open the election to possible fraud or general chaos.

The Democratic secretary of state also tried to reassure viewers by saying the delay is not a big deal because "elections have never been called on election night." She noted that service members overseas have until a week after election day to cast ballots in some states.

The problem is, as the New York Times notes, "Americans are accustomed to knowing who won on election night because news organizations project winners based on partial counts, not because the counting is actually completed that quickly."

So in this case, unlike in the past, a much larger portion of the total vote will probably be uncounted on election night, and therefore a projection of who won the state will, in all likelihood, not be made.

Anything else?

The delay on counting absentee ballots already submitted is further exacerbated by the state's decision — permitted by the Supreme Court — to extend the deadline for counting ballots received up to three days after November 3.

As of Monday, most polls show Democratic nominee Joe Biden ahead in Pennsylvania, but President Trump has been narrowing the gap in the lead-up to Election Day.

Pollster Nate Silver admits that if Biden loses Pennsylvania, he becomes the 'underdog'



Democrats are becoming increasingly concerned about losing key swing states, including Pennsylvania. This is despite Joe Biden being up by as many as seven points in his native state, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. FiveThirtyEight founder and professional pollster Nate Silver revealed how crucial Pennsylvania is to Biden's path back to the White House.

During an appearance on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Silver hinted that the entire 2020 presidential election could hinge on the results of Pennsylvania.

"Pennsylvania has not bumped up to a 7 or 8-point Biden lead, like we see in Michigan and Wisconsin," Silver said. "It's 5 points. It's not a big early voting state, so a lot of votes have not yet been cast in Pennsylvania."

"Among the votes that were sent in by mail, there are some provisions about a naked ballot, a security envelope," the FiveThirtyEight editor-in-chief explained. "That could make things more complicated. You could have the courts involved. You have some protests, looting in Philadelphia. There's lots of stuff going on."

"Maybe a lot of little things add up and Biden loses Pennsylvania by half a point, and then he doesn't quite pull off Arizona or North Carolina," Silver warned Democrats. "He does have other options. ... But still, without Pennsylvania, then Biden becomes an underdog."

Just days ahead of November 3, the @FiveThirtyEight presidential election forecast has Joe Biden with a 90 in 100 c… https://t.co/chPzVYfq5F
— This Week (@This Week)1604245276.0

FiveThirtyEight projects Biden to win the 2020 presidential election: "We simulate the election 40,000 times to see who wins most often." According to the site's projections, Biden wins 89 out of 100 times and President Donald Trump wins only 10 out of 100 outcomes.

Silver claiming that Biden winning the election could be contingent on one state is much different than what he said a few weeks ago.

Silver wrote on Twitter that Biden could easily defeat Trump in a landslide. Silver shared a possible electoral map where Biden wins a number of historically red states, including Texas. Silver said it is possible for Biden to collect 413 electoral votes, giving Biden the most lopsided presidential election victory since 1988 when Republican George H.W. Bush won 426 electoral votes against Michael S. Dukakis, who received only 111.

So you get a big cluster of outcomes at around Biden 413 electoral votes, which is where he wins all the toss-ups /… https://t.co/CxT9IJM8iw
— Nate Silver (@Nate Silver)1602871647.0

In 2016, Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in the battleground state of Pennsylvania by only 44,000 votes out of 6 million that were cast.

The Washington Post reported, "Biden will campaign in and near Pittsburgh on Monday, and Harris will be on the other side of the state, the campaign announced Sunday."

Adding that their spouses, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff, will also be on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.

"Basically, the Biden campaign is hyper-focused on PA the next 36 hours," Washington Post national politics reporter Sean Sullivan tweeted. "And Dems on the ground have grown increasingly nervous about the state in the final stage."

Lady Gaga, who posted a "pandering" and "cringe" endorsement of Biden on Saturday, will also be campaigning in Pennsylvania for the Democratic presidential nominee.