GOP-Controlled Election Panel Decides in Favor of…GOP

Decision by partisan board surprises no one, threatens to disenfranchise Democratic voters

(Bristol, PA) – Patrick Murphy issued the following statement in response to the Board of Elections’ refusal to release thousands of absentee ballots to the precincts, where they would be counted on Election Day:

“It’s clear that Mike Fitzpatrick and his Republican allies are making up election law as they go along for political purposes, using Florida-style tactics in an attempt to steal the election. We know what comes next – the GOP machine will start challenging Democratic votes but we will fight to protect the vote.”

Article 7, Section 14 of the Pennsylvania State Constitution and Section 3146.8 of the Pennsylvania Election Code clearly and unequivocally require that the absentee ballots be counted at the precincts.

It should also be noted that the panel acknowledged that the Board of Elections had improperly rejected eligible, registered Democratic absentee ballot requests.

The GOP Board’s decision comes on the heels of revelations yesterday that the Board tampered with absentee ballot applications to help Republican candidate Mike Fitzpatrick, altering and fixing those that were incorrect or incomplete to keep them from being rejected. At the same time, the GOP Board has been rejecting hundreds of Democratic applications, often based on the same problems that they fixed on the Republican applications.

The new revelations continue to demonstrate a deeply troubling pattern by Mike Fitzpatrick’s GOP allies to target Bucks County Democratic applications for rejection and suppressing the Democratic vote. Over 600 absentee ballot applications have been rejected by the GOP Board – over 80% of which were from Democratic voters. In other words, the partisan Board of Elections is rejected 6 Democratic applications for every 1 Republican.

Michelle Merrick, a registered Republican from Bensalem, submitted an application for an absentee ballot, which included incorrect and missing information. The Board of Elections actually corrected the application for her. Michelle registered to vote under her maiden name “Michelle Merrick,” but she filled out the application under her married name, “Michelle Rubin.” In an attempt to salvage the application, the Board of Elections altered the application to read “Michelle Rubin Merrick.”

Despite the Board of Elections’ blatant attempt to salvage this Republican’s absentee ballot application vote, she still failed to include her date of birth, which should have invalidated her application. It didn’t. Meanwhile, Democratic applications have been denied for innocuous mistakes relating to the date of birth, like filling in “today’s date” instead. But unlike Michelle, they will not have the opportunity to vote absentee or have their voice heard in Tuesday’s election – simply because of their political party.

These facts add to the pattern of GOP voter fraud and partisan politics at the Republican-controlled Board of Elections, coming on the heels of revelations that GOP candidates Mike Fitzpatrick and Rob Ciervo sent a letter to Bucks County voters instructing parents on how to commit voter fraud on behalf of their kids.

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For Immediate Release October 29, 2010

Contact, Sara Schaumburg (201) 788-8159