Pennsylvania

How Courts Are Impacting 2024 Election: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Shuts Down RNC Effort To Disqualify Voters

Published

1 year ago

October 24, 2024

How Courts Are Impacting 2024 Election: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Shuts Down RNC Effort To Disqualify Voters

Topline

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected can still cast provisional ballots, after the Republican National Committee sued to stop the practice, as courts across the country are issuing a flurry of last-minute rulings on ballots and how elections are run in the month before Election Day as parties seek to expand or limit voter access.

A polling station in Hawthorne, California, on March 5.

AFP via Getty Images

Timeline

Oct. 23The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected because of defects—like issues with their signature or the date—can cast provisional ballots to make sure they can vote, after the RNC defended a county’s decision to stop those voters from casting ballots if their mail votes were rejected.

Oct. 22The Georgia Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling blocking new voting rules from taking effect—like a requirement to hand-count ballots and other provisions that Democrats warned could delay the election results from being certified—which means that while litigation will continue, the rules will not be in effect during the general election.

Oct. 22A federal judge dismissed a Republican National Committee-led lawsuit in Michigan that took issue with voter rolls in the state, alleging the number of voters was “impossibly high” and the state wasn’t removing voters from their rolls as required by law, with the judge ruling the plaintiffs didn’t provide enough evidence there was any wrongdoing.

Oct. 21Judges in Michigan and North Carolina rejected lawsuits brought by the RNC challenging overseas voters casting a ballot in those states even if they’ve never actually lived there—for instance, if their parents or spouse lived there—with the Michigan judge calling it an “11th hour attempt to disenfranchise” those voters.

Oct. 18A federal judge in Nevada dismissed an RNC lawsuit challenging the state’s voter rolls—claiming, like in Michigan, that the number of voters was “impossibly high”—throwing out the lawsuit for a second time and ruling the plaintiffs hadn’t provided any “concrete specifics” of wrongdoing.

Oct. 17A Trump-appointed judge in North Carolina struck down a Republican lawsuit aiming to remove 225,000 voters from the state’s voter rolls, alleging fraud, with the judge ruling that removing those voters would move the state “away from a democratic form of government.”

Oct. 16The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled convicted felons can vote in the state after they’ve completed their sentence, striking down an effort by the state to prevent them from voting as Nebraska could become pivotal to determining which presidential candidate wins the Electoral College.

Oct. 16A federal judge blocked a program in Alabama that purged voters from the voter rolls—claiming doing so would help prevent noncitizens from voting—after the Justice Department sued to stop the program because it was too close to the election.

Oct. 16A lower Georgia state judge blocked the new election rules in Georgia that could have potentially delayed the vote certification, after Democrats argued the state election board’s new rules could cause “chaos” in November.

Oct. 15The Ohio Supreme Court upheld restrictions on ballot drop boxes, after the state enacted new limitations saying people dropping off ballots for voters with disabilities have to go into an election office rather than leaving the ballot in a drop box.

Oct. 15A Georgia state judge issued a judgment saying state election workers must certify their county’s election results—regardless of whether they think any ballots were fraudulent—after an official who had refused to certify results in the past asked for clarification and more than a dozen local officials have voted against certifying in recent years.

Oct. 12A federal judge rejected an effort by conservatives to require Arizona to confirm voters’ citizenship ahead of the election.

Oct. 7The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to take up two voting cases after Democrats challenged counties throwing out ballots with incorrect or missing dates, and Republicans opposed some county officials letting voters correct issues with their mail-in ballots, which should not be allowed under state law.

What To Watch For

There are many outstanding cases that still have to be decided by Election Day, with Marc Elias, a voting rights attorney aligned with the Democratic Party, reporting Sunday that 191 cases are pending in 39 states. The Justice Department has sued Virginia for challenging voters’ eligibility too close to the election, for instance, and Georgia Republicans are appealing the ruling against the state election board’s new rules. The RNC has filed lawsuits taking aim at voting practices, including alleging Fulton County, Georgia, did not hire enough Republican poll workers. More lawsuits are also likely to be filed and rapidly decided in the two weeks before Election Day.

What We Don’t Know

What will happen after Election Day. Close election results in any battleground state could prompt a slew of lawsuits over how ballots are counted and the election results, as happened in 2020 when the Trump campaign launched a wide-ranging legal campaign challenging the vote count. Battleground states are already preparing for an anticipated onslaught of post-election lawsuits, Reuters reports, with Arizona’s court system ordering judges to prioritize election lawsuits so that certification doesn’t get delayed. Republican and Democratic campaigns are also gearing up for a busy legal landscape: An RNC official told ABC News the party has 5,000 volunteer attorneys ready to be deployed on Election Day, and ABC cited an internal memo from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign that claims it is “the most prepared campaign in history for what we face” in terms of litigation.

Chief Critic

Democrats have heavily criticized Republicans for the rash of lawsuits they’ve brought ahead of Election Day and are likely to continue filing, arguing the GOP is trying to sow doubt in the election results even before they’ve come in. “We’re seeing a record number of lawsuits filed before the election—nearly every day—in a seemingly coordinated push to use the legitimacy of the courts to lay the groundwork for discrediting an unfavorable result,” Wendy Weiser, director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program, told ABC News. “The lawsuits are not about getting legal relief, but about spreading conspiracy theories.” Many of the GOP lawsuits that have been brought are based on concerns about election irregularities or fraud, such as noncitizen voting or mail-in ballots, even though evidence has shown election fraud is exceedingly rare and there is no evidence of any widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Key Background

Republicans have ramped up legal challenges and tightened voting rules since the 2020 election. Trump and his allies filed at least 60 lawsuits challenging the vote count in 2020 as the then-president made baseless allegations of fraud, and Republicans have used Trump’s fraud allegations as an underpinning for their litigation challenging voting rules. GOP-led states have also pointed to Trump’s baseless claims to justify enacting their own tighter restrictions on voting ahead of the 2024 election, which Democrats have then challenged in court. The RNC announced in April it intended to make its litigation efforts a key part of its strategy in the general election, launching an extensive “election integrity” effort with 100,000 staffers and volunteers. Chief Counsel Charlie Spies said in a statement the “RNC legal team will be working tirelessly to ensure that elections officials follow the rules” and “will aggressively take them to court if they don’t.”

Pennsylvania man says he was shot by his dog

Published

19 hours ago

November 12, 2025

Press Room

Pennsylvania man says he was shot by his dog

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 11:18PM

A Pennsylvania man says he was accidentally shot by his dog.

SHILLINGTON, Pa. (WPVI) — A Pennsylvania man says his dog is to blame for a bizarre mishap inside his home.

He was shot late Tuesday night at a home in Shillington, Berks County.

The man told police he was cleaning a shotgun and put it down on his bed.

When he sat down on the bed, the dog jumped onto it, causing the firearm to discharge and strike him in the lower back.

The man was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent surgery.

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Pennsylvania

‘Cautiously optimistic:’ Pa. lawmakers hope to pass state budget soon

Published

2 days ago

November 12, 2025

Press Room

‘Cautiously optimistic:’ Pa. lawmakers hope to pass state budget soon

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WPVI) — A lot of people and agencies — from school districts to food banks — are waiting with bated breath for the Pennsylvania state budget to pass. Lawmakers have been at an impasse for months.

Sources in Harrisburg tell Action News a lot of progress was made Tuesday night, and there is a deal in place.

Both chambers held caucus to discuss the proposed $50 billion spending plan. Two major pieces of the budget were voted out of the Pennsylvania State Senate Appropriations Committee around 9 p.m.

The Senate voted to reconvene on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. The Pennsylvania House is also scheduled to be in session on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. to begin an all-day effort in voting on the budget bills.

Senator Sharif Street, who represents North Philadelphia, spoke with Action News, saying, “This proposed budget increases funding in public education and violence prevention programs. I am cautiously optimistic we will get this budget done.”

That budget is now four months overdue, threatening resources among counties, social services, and school districts.

In Bucks County, the Morrisville School District announced last week it would have to temporarily shut down if it didn’t receive state funding by mid-January.

And in Philadelphia, the Share Food Program has missed out on about $3.5 million it normally would’ve received from the state while lawmakers have tried to work out a budget deal. It’s money executive director George Matysik says he could really use as the nonprofit is seeing a massively increased need during the government shutdown.

“So over the course of the last year or so, the Share Food Program has seen a total cut of about $8.5 million to our organization, at a time when we’ve been seeing an increased need, but no need like what we’ve seen over the course of the last few weeks, where we have had a 12 fold increase in new registrants over the last two weeks,” Matysik said.

He says Governor Josh Shapiro recently released funding for food banks across the state, allocating about $750,000 for the Share Food Program.

“It certainly doesn’t pick up the amount of need that we’re seeing at the federal level, but it was a huge help for us,” Matysik said.

He’s hoping that lawmakers will get a budget passed on Wednesday.

“There is some relief in this moment, but I will tell you for organizations like ours and for the folks we serve, we have been going through collective whiplash over the course of the last few weeks while all of these programs have been started and stopped multiple times,” said Matysik. “So for many families that we serve that are on very tight budgets, this means a lot for them.”

Likely absent from that budget will be any funding for SEPTA. That was a point of contention among lawmakers over the summer, but eventually, Democratic lawmakers who were pushing for it accepted that it was not going to happen this year. Instead, Governor Shapiro’s administration approved the use of capital assistance funds to cover SEPTA’s operating expenses for the next two years.

A SEPTA spokesperson tells Action News the agency hasn’t received word that anything has changed on the funding front, with news of a potential deal on the table.

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Pennsylvania

Here’s a quick snapshot of veterans in Pennsylvania

Published

2 days ago

November 11, 2025

Press Room

Here’s a quick snapshot of veterans in Pennsylvania

As the United States marks Veterans Day on Tuesday, here’s a quick snapshot of veterans living in Pennsylvania today. The projections, based on 2023 data, were provided by the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics.

Total number of veterans in Pennsylvania: 697,655

Pennsylvania’s veteran population: 4th largest

Percentage of Pennsylvania veterans 65 and older: 51.76%

Percentage of U.S. veterans 65 and older: 46%

Percentage of Pennsylvania veterans who are women: 9.1%

Percentage of U.S. veterans who are women: 11.3%

Number of Pennsylvania veterans enrolled in VA health care system: 319,155

Projected Pennsylvania population of veterans in 2050: 335,617

Pa. population of veterans by period of service:

Gulf War Era

2023: 251,618.

Projected 2048: 205,310

Vietnam Era

2023: 232,404

2048: 14,716

Korean conflict

2023: 40,398

2048: 48

World War II

2023: 7,038

2048: 0

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