A Democratic official in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is facing calls for her arrest after openly defending her decision to defy a court order and count questionable mail-in ballots in the contested U.S. Senate race. Diane Ellis-Marseglia, one of three commissioners overseeing election proceedings in the suburban county north of Philadelphia, sparked outrage last week when she told reporters that a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling invalidating certain absentee ballots “doesn’t matter.” She encouraged local election officials to count the ballots anyway.
Her defiance came as Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) pursues a last-ditch recount effort despite trailing Republican Dave McCormick by more than 25,000 votes. “We all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country and people violate laws any time they want,” Ellis-Marseglia said in a viral social media clip, Fox News reported. “So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it. There is nothing more important than counting votes.”
On Wednesday, Diane Ellis-Marseglia faced boos and calls for her resignation from a packed audience at the latest Bucks County Commission meeting. She read a prepared statement apologizing for her previous comments. “Last Thursday, when I spoke at the meeting that you’re all here about, the passion in my heart got the best of me, and I apologize again for that,” she said. “That was a hearing, and we were talking about provisional ballots. We were specifically talking about the fact that there were certain provisional ballots where a judge of elections did not sign and did not make sure that a voter signed on the outside envelope.
“To me, it was frustrating and unconscionable that we would have to take away somebody’s vote not because they made a mistake, but because an employee, one of our members … one of the judges of elections didn’t know what to do or forgot or made a mistake. That issue that I spoke on has now gone viral from my comments. It was genuinely not the best words. I would do it all again. I feel terrible about it. I should have been more clear, please, I will be more clear in the future.”
Saying the quiet part out loud may have caused too much damage. On social media, users intensified their calls for consequences. “Trying to overturn an election by counting illegal ballots is a crime & that’s exactly what Diane-Ellis Marseglia and Bob Harvie did,” one user wrote, referencing another Democratic member of the commission who voted to count the contested ballots. “Raise your hand if you think they should be arrested, prosecuted and put in prison.”
Trying to overturn an election by counting illegal ballots is a crime & that’s exactly what Diane-Ellis Marseglia and Bob Harvie did
Raise your hand ?? if you think they should be arrested, prosecuted and put in prison pic.twitter.com/yyp0kQTYi2
— @Chicago1Ray ?? (@Chicago1Ray) November 21, 2024
They both deserve prison for breaking the law.
— Michelle Maxwell (@MichelleMaxwell) November 21, 2024
?????? Hell yes Arrest them, if this had been President Trump they would be trying to lock him up
— Angela Samuels (@AngelaSamuels76) November 21, 2024
If there isn’t a prosecution in this case, there’s no need to have future elections. They’ll know they can still them in broad daylight, and even show how they do it…
without any fear of consequence.
— Thomas Nuckles (@ThomasNuckles) November 21, 2024
Election Fraud is a CRIME!!!
— Z (@zpatriot_) November 21, 2024
