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Pennsylvania Judge Denies Centre County GOP Request To Disqualify Undated or Misdated Mail-In Ballots

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Pennsylvania Judge Denies Centre County GOP Request To Disqualify Undated or Misdated Mail-In Ballots


WASHINGTON D.C. — A Pennsylvania judge today rejected a request from Centre County GOP Chair Michelle Schellberg and local voters to disqualify nearly 100 mail-in ballots cast in the state’s April 23 primary election with misdated or undated outer envelopes. 

The ruling comes as part of a lawsuit filed earlier this month in which Schellberg and individual voters alleged that the Centre County Board of Elections wrongly decided to include 95 ballots in the county’s vote tally with dates that were imprecise or missing altogether. The lawsuit additionally sought to prevent the board from counting undated or misdated mail-in ballots in all future elections.

In today’s order, Judge Julia R. Rater dismissed the county GOP’s legal action on the grounds that Schellberg and the voters filed their petition too late after the board’s April 25 decision to count the 95 undated or misdated ballots. Without reaching the merits of the case, Rater concluded that under state law, the petitioners would have needed to file their appeal of the board’s decision by April 27 or May 2 at the very latest. 

“The Appeal was not filed until May 7, 2024. As such, it is untimely,” Rater’s order reads. 

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 Although the 95 contested ballots did not stand to materially affect Centre County’s primary election outcomes, they nonetheless resulted in the county postponing certification of its results as the litigation played out. Following today’s ruling, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt (D) is expected to certify the statewide primary election results — a process that was held up due to Centre County’s certification delay.  

According to the now-dismissed GOP lawsuit, a 2022 decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and 2023 decision from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals preclude Pennsylvania counties from counting mail-in ballots with outer return envelopes that are undated or incorrectly dated. 

On the other hand, the Centre County Board of Elections argued that the “Pennsylvania Supreme Court left untouched the county boards of elections’ authority to determine whether a ballot’s outer envelope is correctly dated.” 

The board also maintained that Schellberg and her co-petitioners brought their legal action too late after its members decided to count the ballots, thereby foreclosing the challenge under state law. In addition to agreeing with this argument in today’s order, Rater maintained that “even if Petitioners’ Appeal could be construed as a petition for an election contest”— as opposed to an appeal of the board’s decision — “it would be fatally deficient leaving the Court without jurisdiction to decide the matter.”

Rater further acknowledged the urgency of finalizing the state’s certification of its primary election results, reasoning that she must dismiss the appeal so as to “avoid any confusion or potential further delays.” In an amicus brief in support of the Centre County Board of Elections, Schmidt and the Pennsylvania Department of State previously urged the court to dismiss the petition in order to allow the secretary to “perform his duty and finally certify the 2024 primary.” 

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Centre County was not the only Pennsylvania County beset by legal challenges over mail-in ballots in the wake of the state’s April 23 primary. Litigation is ongoing in a case out of Butler County, where the board of elections refused to allow voters to cure mail-in ballots that were missing inner secrecy envelopes. 

Read the order here.

Learn more about the case here.



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Pennsylvania

Police: Burglary at home of Philadelphia Eagles star Saquon Barkley

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Police: Burglary at home of Philadelphia Eagles star Saquon Barkley


Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH 495 IN
EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS

IN DELAWARE THIS WATCH INCLUDES 3 COUNTIES

IN CENTRAL DELAWARE

KENT

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IN NORTHERN DELAWARE

NEW CASTLE

IN SOUTHERN DELAWARE

SUSSEX

IN MARYLAND THIS WATCH INCLUDES 4 COUNTIES

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IN NORTHEAST MARYLAND

CAROLINE KENT QUEEN ANNE’S
TALBOT

IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 16 COUNTIES

IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY

MERCER MONMOUTH

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IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY

HUNTERDON MIDDLESEX MORRIS
SOMERSET SUSSEX WARREN

IN SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY

ATLANTIC BURLINGTON CAMDEN
CAPE MAY CUMBERLAND GLOUCESTER
OCEAN SALEM

IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES

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IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON

IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA

CARBON MONROE

IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA

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BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA

THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, ATLANTIC CITY, BETHLEHEM,
BLAIRSTOWN, CAMDEN, CENTREVILLE, CHERRY HILL, CHESTERTOWN,
DENTON, DEPTFORD, DOVER, DOYLESTOWN, EAST BRUNSWICK, EASTON,
EASTON, EDISON, FLEMINGTON, FREEHOLD, GEORGETOWN, GLASSBORO,
HAMMONTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MILLVILLE, MOORESTOWN, MORRISTOWN,
MOUNT HOLLY, NEW BRUNSWICK, NEWTON, NORRISTOWN,
NORTH BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP, OCEAN CITY, PENNSVILLE, PERTH AMBOY,
PHILADELPHIA, READING, SAYREVILLE, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TOMS RIVER, TRENTON, WEST CHESTER, AND WILMINGTON.

Info:

Type: Tornado Watch

start_time_local: 2026-07-18T13:55:00-04:00

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end_time_local: 2026-07-18T21:00:00-04:00

county_name: Lehigh County

state: PA

headline: Tornado Watch from SAT 1:55 PM EDT until SAT 9:00 PM EDT

county_fips:

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category: Met

url:

urgency: Future

severity: Extreme

certainty: Possible

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geographicname: Lehigh County

state_name: Pennsylvania



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Ambler chapel at historic Pa. seminary wins international architecture award

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Ambler chapel at historic Pa. seminary wins international architecture award


From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly’s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

A chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s new Ambler campus in Montgomery County has earned an international architecture award for blending centuries of Catholic tradition with contemporary design.

Immaculate Conception Chapel, designed by Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP, incorporates historic elements salvaged from the seminary’s former Lower Merion campus, including carved pews, statues and stained-glass windows. The adapted features preserve the legacy of the oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in Pennsylvania and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The chapel was one of 12 winners selected from 75 submissions worldwide in the 2026 Faith & Form International Awards for Religious Architecture & Art, presented by Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places.

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“It’s one of these projects that totally balances the contemporary needs of the client with this commitment to … liturgical tradition, institutional memory and preservation,” said

Kevin Block, the nonprofit’s director of special initiatives.

“So that combination … balancing the old and the new, was, in the jury’s opinion, really award worthy.”

Chapel design holds ‘universal appeal’

John Cluver, senior partner and director of historic preservation at Voith & Mactavish, said he worked closely with the seminary to understand the physical and spiritual needs of the people who would be in the building every day.

Incorporating historic elements at the old seminary was key for the institution, Cluver said.

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Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places recognized Immaculate Conception Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Ambler, Pennsylvania, with one of its 2026 international awards for excellence and innovation in architecture, design and art for religious places. (Photo credit: Jeffrey Totaro; Courtesy of Partners for Sacred Places)

“They were very interested in having this new chapel relate back to these other chapels and to continue this sense of tradition and this historic continuity with their previous campus,” he said. “So the basic form, configuration, individual elements all were based on elements from these two chapels that we could integrate into a single one.”

Cluver said the award from Partners for Sacred Places is recognition of achieving a “universal appeal” beyond the religious context.

“There’s something that resonated with people who had no connection whatsoever with this community, but they still felt that it really spoke to them as well, so it was very rewarding in that regard,” he said.



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Ticket from Pennsylvania Lottery’s Triple Six Fix scandal going up for auction

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Ticket from Pennsylvania Lottery’s Triple Six Fix scandal going up for auction


Almost 50 years ago, a Pennsylvania Lottery scandal rocked the commonwealth and captured the attention of the world. Now it’s going up for auction.

Television viewers on Thursday, April 24, 1980, thought they were watching another random lottery drawing when the numbers 666 were drawn. But weeks later, Nick Perry, a local Pittsburgh news reporter and host of the drawing, was charged and convicted of rigging the game. Investigators learned he made some balls heavier than others by adding extra paint to them, tipping the outcome.

That drawing, and the 666 lottery tickets, would go down in infamy. And now, a 46-year-old artifact at the center of the scandal is up for sale. 

John Zenewicz likes to go to estate sales and has a side hustle selling finds on eBay. He said he was at an estate sale in Saxonburg when he saw a 666 ticket sitting on a dresser. 

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“I remember the style of ticket because my dad would buy them when I was a boy,” said John Zenewicz. “And I was like, ‘why would someone encase an old lottery ticket?’ and the only thing that could pop to my mind was that story that I remember. I was 10 years old.”

Zenewicz suspects the homeowners had no idea what they were selling. 

“What I presume, it’s one of the tickets that was probably confiscated as evidence in Nick Perry, what the locals call the Triple Six Fix,” he said.  

After a little more research, Zenewicz said he realized one of the previous owners of the home worked in law enforcement at the time of the scandal. He suspects he may have been part of the team prosecuting Nick Perry. Perry served two years in jail, was fined $3,000 and was ordered to pay $35,000. 

Perry died in 2003, but at least one of the tickets at the center of it all remains. And now, Zenewicz says he is selling his 666 ticket on eBay, giving someone else a chance to own a piece of history.

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