Pennsylvania state Sen. Jim Brewster will be sworn in after a federal court denied a challenge brought by his Republican opponent Nicole Ziccarelli, which aims to throw out 311 mail-in ballots that arrived before election day but lacked a handwritten date on the outer ballot envelope.
Brewster’s win was certified by the state and Pennsylvania Supreme Court already ruled that those ballots can be counted but Ziccarelli essentially asked the federal court to overturn the state Supreme Court decision.
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“Contrary to Ms. Ziccarelli’s reading, the Court finds that the Supreme Court expressly held that the undated ballots at issue remain valid ballots that are properly counted under state law,” U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote in his opinion. “Thus, because Ms. Ziccarelli’s federal constitutional claims all depend on the invalidity of the ballots under state law, those claims necessarily fail on the merits.”
The Senate will return to session on Wednesday at 11 a.m. to swear-in Mr. Brewster, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman tweeted.
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Chaos erupted last week in the Senate chamber when the Republican majority removed Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat from overseeing the swearing in process when he refused to recognize a motion that would have prevented Brewster from getting sworn in.
This cleared the way for Interim Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, a Republican to take over the proceedings and tabled the seating to give senators enough time to consider Ziccarelli’s official challenge to the race certification in their chamber and to let the federal case play out.
“If the federal court rules, as we believe, that the ballots should not count then we will seat Mrs. Ziccarelli immediately and if they rule ballots should count we will seat Sen. Brewster immediately,” Corman said in a statement last week the Post Gazette reports.. “A subsequent appeal will not delay that seating, although it could result in further action in the future if the district court decision is not upheld.”
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Ziccarelli said she will not appeal the federal court’s decision and will withdraw the official challenge she filed in the Senate.
Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement after the ruling that Senate Republicans have “no choice” but to swear-in Mr. Brewster.
“Senate Republicans may not like the outcome of the election, but they cannot overturn the will of the people in western Pennsylvania or ignore court decisions,” Gov. Wolf said. “The people’s ballots are counted, and the results are accurate. Refusing to seat Sen. Brewster and leaving the district without a voice would be unethical and undemocratic.”
