A judge on Wednesday denied an effort to force Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to withdraw the certification of the presidential election results.
Mary Hannah Leavitt, a Commonwealth Court judge, ruled that petitioners failed to demonstrate “a clear right to relief or likelihood of prevailing on the merits because their underlying action, although styled as a complaint seeking a writ of mandamus, is really an improper and untimely election contest.”
Leavitt said the deadline for such a contest was Nov. 23.
“This Court lacks jurisdiction over the contest and, thus, Petitioners cannot prevail on the merits,” she added.
The case was recently filed by a group of 11 voters led by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican.
They argued in the petition that the 2020 election “was fraught with numerous violations of Pennsylvania’s Election Code perpetrated by predominantly Democratic county election officials.”
“In addition, there are countless documented election irregularities and improprieties that prevent an accurate accounting of the election results in the presidential election,” they alleged.
The group argued that because of the alleged irregularities, it was impossible to certify the accuracy of the purported election results.
The case included an affidavit from U.S. Postal Service contractor Jesse Morgan, who alleged he was directed to transport what he believed to be completed Pennsylvania ballots in the election across state lines, from New York to Pennsylvania. He said he didn’t know what happened to the ballots.
A spokesperson for Wolf, a Democrat, called the filing ” just another attempt by some Republicans to spread disinformation and ignore reality.”
This case is Metcalfe et al. v. Wolf et al. (636 MD 2020)
Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
