Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘Open Defiance Of The Law’: WSJ Editor Shocked That Swing-State County Is Counting Illegal Ballots

Screenshot/Rumble/Fox News

A Wall Street Journal editor expressed shock on Monday at the “breathtaking” decision by Bucks County, Pennsylvania, officials to count ballots that were improperly dated.

Democratic Commissioners Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Robert Harvie of Bucks County moved to count the undated or misdated ballots Thursday as Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania held a narrow lead over Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania ahead of a recount. James Freeman, an assistant editor of The Wall Street Journal, said the county didn’t even try to make any arguments about the law.

WATCH:

“It’s amazing. It’s breathtaking. Just open defiance of the law, not even trying to make a legal argument, just saying we don’t have to follow the law because we don’t feel like it,” Freeman told “America Reports” co-host Sandra Smith. “As your viewers can probably guess, this isn’t some obscure old provision of law. This is very clear in state law. You have to sign and date the mailed ballot and it’s also very clear when you go to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania website, here are the rules, it tells voters what you have to do.”

“So, for people in Bucks County, commissioners, officials in Bucks County and elsewhere, it is an outrage and we are not hearing much, sadly, from state officials in Pennsylvania,” Freeman continued. “This would be a moment for the governor, Josh Shapiro, who has given the impression that he is one of the more sensible, reasonable, moderate Democrats as opposed by the left-wing to show that he is not a partisan hack and I don’t think we are hearing much.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Bucks County and other jurisdictions not to count improperly dated ballots Monday following a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee in response to the Thursday vote by the Bucks County commissioners.

“Following our latest RNC lawsuit, today the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yet again that undated ballots CANNOT BE COUNTED,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley posted on X. “No more excuses. Election officials in Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and other counties have absolutely no choice but to reject illegal ballots. We will hold them to it.”

Casey endorsed the effort by Bucks County and other jurisdictions to count the improperly dated ballots in an op-ed published Monday, claiming that adhering to state law would be “disenfranchising thousands of voters.”