News & Brews May 24, 2022
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McCormick goes to court over undated ballots
In the wake of the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that undated mail-in ballots cast in a 2021 Lehigh County race must be counted, GOP Senate candidate David McCormick filed a lawsuit yesterday in Commonwealth Court asking the court to order that undated mail-in ballots be counted in his race, too. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is intervening against McCormick in the lawsuit. The RNC says, however, that its intervention is neither anti-McCormick nor pro-Oz, but rather “because election laws are meant to be followed, and changing the rules when ballots are already being counted harms the integrity of our elections.”
WSJ: In PA, ‘undated ballots are the new hanging chads’
Speaking of undated ballots, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will “tidy up” the mess of uncertainty spawned by the Third Circuit’s ruling. In the meantime, however, the Journal writes, “Undated ballots and the like are the new hanging chads, a source of indeterminacy, which is election poison. If they flip the outcome, both sides can plausibly argue they won.” Anyone want to revisit 2000? (Please, no.)
‘For whom does the union speak?’
Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT) CEO David Osborne and AFFT Senior Writer and Researcher Suzanne Bates examine the roots and results of so-called “exclusive representation” by unions. Their conclusion: Eliminating exclusive representation and allowing workers to represent themselves if they so choose “could produce a more competitive environment and better unions—unions less focused on politics, and more focused on pleasing their members.” Read their piece here.
‘Somber tone’ for IFO’s revenue projections
Yesterday, the state’s Independent Fiscal Office released its initial revenue estimates for Fiscal Year 2022-23. The Center Square reports that the IFO had a “somber tone, “estimating there is a 60% chance of economic stagnation or a growth recession … [and] a 30% chance of recession, where real GDP falls, the country experiences a major stock market and housing correction, and jobs either stagnate or contract.” As for the chance that “inflation drops and no recession hits?” The IFO places it at 10%. Read more here.
Op-Ed: Voter ID is ‘common sense’
Republican Rep. Seth Grove (York County), primary sponsor of the Voting Rights Protection Act, writes in PennLive, “Voter identification is a commonsense solution to protect the integrity of the vote and close a loophole fraudsters and illegal voters can easily exploit.” He explains that the data shows that requiring voter ID does not disenfranchise voters, and a majority of Pennsylvanians support a voter ID requirement. Read his piece here.