News & Brews November 7, 2022
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Pa. Supreme Court issues surprise clarification on mail-in ballots
Last week, the state Supreme Court issued an order saying undated and incorrectly dated mail-in ballots should be rejected, inspiring questions surrounding what constitutes an incorrectly dated ballot. On Saturday, the court issued another order clarifying the definition. The Inquirer explains: “Mail-in ballots are to be rejected in this election if the handwritten dates fall before Sept. 19, 2022, or after Nov. 8 (Election Day), and absentee ballots are to be rejected if they are dated before Aug. 30, 2022, or after Nov. 8.” The different beginning time frames are based on when mail-in ballots and military/overseas ballots are sent out.
Polling average puts Senate race neck and neck
The current RealClearPolitics polling average for the U.S. Senate race, which averaged poll results from 10/27 to 11/3, has Oz leading Fetterman by an extremely slim 0.1. Meanwhile, the polling average for the governor’s race, shows Shapiro ahead by 10.7.
Union tries to erase its history while spending big for Dems
The Commonwealth Foundation’s Nathan Benefield highlights how American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten is claiming AFT fought for in-person learning during COVID when the reality is that the union pushed to keep schools closed. Meanwhile, “AFT’s political action committee (PAC) has spent nearly $20 million this election cycle, with $5 million of that going to Democratic Congressional committees and 100 percent of their candidate donations going to Democrats.”
WSJ Editorial: ‘Trump misses the real Pa. voting problem’
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board writes that while former President Trump, in “classic Trump” fashion, is claiming the Pa. elections will be rigged due to a supposed “250,000 mail ballots that lack verification of the voter’s identity,” he’s not “bothering to understand” the facts and missing the real election integrity issue this year: undated mail-in ballots. (Regarding the ‘lack of ID verification,’ mail-in ballots in Pa. are not counted unless and until ID is provided.)
All political eyes on Pa. tomorrow
The Post-Gazette says Pennsylvania’s elections have the political attention not only of the country, but maybe even of the world. The elections’ importance is underscored by the fact that, “[o]n just one day — Saturday — President Joe Biden and his two immediate predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama, whipped up voters in Pittsburgh, Latrobe and Philadelphia.” And indeed, if you’re a fan of political history, the story notes, “Never in the state’s history — 235 years — has there been an election where voters chose both a new governor and U.S. senator, while at the same time voting for state and federal legislative candidates who are running in brand new districts drawn less than a year earlier.”