Bucks County commissioners are facing backlash from the Trump campaign over the Pennsylvania Senate recount

Chris LaCivita, co-manager of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, suggested on X Sunday night that Bucks County commissioners, including board chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia, “will go to jail.” because of its decision to defy the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling on absentee ballots.

Democratic-led boards of elections — including in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery and Center counties — opted to count undated ballots, despite two Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings barring their inclusion.

On Monday afternoon, the state supreme court issued another ruling, confirming that those ballots would not count.

The commission’s attempt to count votes came under nationwide scrutiny when U.S. Senate elections in Pennsylvania were automatically recounted under state law. Republican Dave McCormick, declared the winner by the Associated Press, is ahead of Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by less than half a percentage point.

Republicans accused the Casey campaign without evidence of working with Democratic-led election boards to overturn the outcome of the race by voting to include ballots in defiance of the court’s order. Democratic officials framed their efforts as aimed at ensuring that voters’ voices are heard despite mistakes and omissions.

Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat who also cast a ballot last week to count provisional ballots in which voters did not sign in one of two necessary boxes, said Monday that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s confirmation of the ruling provided clarity and “is exactly what I expected.” Down.”

Ellis-Marseglia recently made national headlines following comments she made last week about the counting of ballots deemed invalid.

“I think we all know that the precedent set by the court is no longer relevant in this country,” Ellis-Marseglia said last week.

“People break the law whenever they want,” she said. “So for me, the violation of this law is because I want the court to pay attention to it. There is nothing more important than counting votes.”

In a brief interview Monday evening, Ellis-Marseglia said the backlash sparked by her comments represented “a misinterpretation on my part of a clumsily worded statement, but completely taken out of context.”

“I apologize for all the upset and confusion this has caused, and I am glad that we are where we are today because of the ruling,” she added.

On SiriusXM by Michael Smerconish podcast on MondayMontgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija, who also supported the counting of ballots found to be defective, said he disagreed with Ellis-Marseglia’s argument that precedent was not critical.

“This is not my opinion at all,” said Makhija, election representative and chairman of the district electoral commission. “In my opinion, the Constitution requires us to count the votes of eligible registered voters and yes, if there is a non-essential issue… it should not undermine someone’s fundamental right.”

Despite LaCivity’s rhetoric, it is highly unlikely that anyone would go to jail over a dispute that would be resolved in civil court. On Friday, members of the McCormick campaign filed a lawsuit against the Philadelphia Board of Commissioners — similar to the one it filed in Bucks and Center counties — for defying a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling regarding undated or incorrectly dated ballots.

RNC co-chairman Michael Whatley said on a call with reporters Monday that the RNC plans to take legal action against the commissioners, arguing that they “will face serious consequences for their brazen betrayal of the public trust.”

Ellis-Marseglia said she had not received a response to LaCivita’s post, which came amid broader pressure from Republicans pressuring Casey to drop out of the race.

His post was in response to Steven Law, CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC, who reposted a photo of Ellis-Marseglia’s PAC financial contribution to Casey’s re-election bid.

This year, Bob Casey’s PAC contributed a total of $800 to Senate Inc. and another $800 to the Casey Keystone Victory Fund. Law, noting those comments, said the commission’s decision to count undated ballots “adds to the RICO program.”

It’s normal for Democrats, like Ellis-Marseglia, to donate to other Democrats’ campaigns.

In PennLive Monday guest columnCasey reaffirmed his reason for remaining in the race and allowed the recount process to move forward.

“Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and the value of someone’s vote is not determined by how long it takes to be counted,” he wrote. “When a Pennsylvanian takes the time to cast a legal vote, often standing in long lines and sacrificing time for work and family, they deserve to have their vote counted, whether it is the first or last ballot.”

Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.

This story has been updated with comments from Diane Ellis-Marseglia.