News & Brews June 3, 2022

Following Monday’s oral argument, Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer ordered counties to count undated mail-in ballots in the GOP Senate primary. The request to count the ballots came from candidate David McCormick, who trails Mehmet Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes. Jubelirer ordered counties to keep the undated ballots separate from the rest, however, as litigation is ongoing, and to “provide two vote tallies” to the PA Department of State, so when the court case is ultimately decided on the merits, the appropriate tally can be used. Read the order here.

The Inquirer reports that for several months, state Sen. Sharif Street has been campaigning to be chair of the PA Democratic Party, but Democrat gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro has publicly stepped into the fray, endorsing another candidate for the post. Here’s the irony: Shapiro says he’s concerned Street wouldn’t be able to “focus entirely on the task at hand,” as he’s currently an elected official and may put his “own ambition ahead of what our party needs.” Ummm, this is exactly what Josh Shapiro has been doing for years: Holding one office while continually angling for another. The Inquirer has more.

PA continues to give the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board fodder for critique. This time, the ed board calls on the U.S. Supreme Court to “tell lower judges to quit rewriting election laws, especially after the votes are cast.” At issue, of course, is our mail-in-ballot mayhem, which SCOTUS avoided addressing following the 2020 election. Read more here (paywall).

From school choice to energy production to teachers’ unions, a new survey from Public Opinion Strategies (commissioned by the Commonwealth Foundation) gives a snapshot of what PA registered voters think. Most respondents (68%) think the state is headed in the wrong direction, yet 53% approve of the job Gov. Wolf is doing. Meanwhile, by far “rising prices and inflation” top the issues of concern for respondents. See the survey results here.

The AP reports that GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano offered months ago to appear for an interview with the January 6 committee and also provided documents earlier this week to the committee in response to a subpoena. Despite the offer of an interview, the committee, which consists of seven Democrats and two Republicans, has yet to schedule an interview. Read the AP story here.