‘This is not how you govern’: Bucks County Republicans condemn Dem. commissioners at heated board meeting

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Dozens of Bucks County Republicans gathered outside the county administration building Wednesday morning to condemn Democratic commissioners’ vote to count undated or misdated mail ballots, a move that the state Supreme Court struck down.

Protesters held signs reading, “Commissioners are not above the law,” and “Tyrant,” featuring a photo of Democratic Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia.

The controversy comes as the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick has gone to a recount. On Nov. 12, Democratic Commissioners Ellis-Marseglia and Bob Harvie voted to count undated or misdated mail ballots. Although in violation of the court ruling, Democratic-majority commissioners’ boards throughout the state have argued those votes shouldn’t be discarded because of technicalities.

“We all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country and people violate laws any time they want,” Ellis-Marseglia said while casting her vote. “So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it. There is nothing more important than counting votes.”

The comments incited a swift backlash, including an online petition with close to 3,000 signatures calling for Harvie and Ellis-Marseglia to be impeached.

Wednesday’s protest moved indoors to the regularly scheduled commissioner’s meeting. During the meeting, Ellis-Marseglia apologized for the comments but clarified the topic and argued her words were taken out of context.

“The passion in my heart got the best of me and I apologize for that,” she said.

She said her comments were specifically about provisional ballots, not mail ballots. Those provisional ballots were undated or misdated, and that was the failure of the judge of elections who oversaw that voting process, she said.

“I don’t think I’m alone in the frustrations I had that day,” she said. “I look forward to the court taking a stand on this, and quite frankly, that was about provisional ballots, and that court hearing hasn’t even been held yet.”

Ellis-Marseglia promised to “be more clear in the future,” words that were met with cries of “liar” and “resign” from the packed room.

Numerous speakers in the public comment section of the meeting called on Ellis-Marseglia and Harvie to resign.

“We want them to know that this cannot be the way they rule,” Pat Poprick, chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee, told WHYY News. “They cannot make decisions of this nature that are against the law to serve their political purposes.”

Poprick said frustration at the commissioners also stems from issues with on-demand mail ballot voting that arose when elections offices closed lines early, prompting a judge to order a mail ballot voting extension after the Trump campaign sued the county.

“This, to me, is the second time in a few weeks that we’ve been national news for behavior that’s not acceptable,” Poprick said. “Closing the lines early when they shouldn’t have, this is not how you govern. And I think the people in the county are not happy, no matter what their party. So I think that’s what we’re going to look at and see what can be done.”