Bucks County commissioners face backlash from Trump campaign over Senate recount in Pennsylvania

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

Democratic-led election boards — including in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, and Centre Counties — decided to count undated ballots, despite a pair of rulings from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court barring their inclusion.

The state’s high court issued another ruling Monday afternoon, reaffirming that these ballots will not count.

The attempt by the boards to count the ballots came under national scrutiny as Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race went into an automatic recount under state law. Republican Dave McCormick, who was declared the winner by the Associated Press, leads Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by less than half a percentage point.

Republicans have accused Casey’s campaign, without evidence, of coordinating with Democratic-led election boards in an effort to to reverse the outcome of the race by voting to include the ballots against the court order. Democratic officials framed their efforts as intended to ensure voters’ voices are heard, despite the errors or omissions.

Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, who also cast a vote last week to count provisional ballots where voters did not sign in one of two necessary boxes,said Monday that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reaffirming its ruling provided clarity and is “exactly what I was hoping for.”

Ellis-Marseglia has made national headlines recently for comments she made last week regarding counting ballots deemed deficient.

“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” Ellis-Marseglia said last week.

“People violate laws any time they want,” she said. “So, for me, if I violate this law it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes.”

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

“I apologize for all the upset and confusion it caused, and I am just glad that we are where we are today with the ruling,” she added.

On Michael Smerconish’s SiriusXM podcast Monday, Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija, who has also supported counting ballots deemed deficient, said he disagreed with Ellis-Marseglia’s reasoning that precedent is not important.

“That’s not my stance at all,” said Makhija, an election attorney and chair of the county’s election board. “My stance is the Constitution requires us to count the ballots of lawfully eligible registered voters, and yes, if there’s an issue that’s immaterial … that shouldn’t throw out someone’s fundamental right.”

Despite LaCivita’s rhetoric, it’s highly unlikely that anyone would go to jail over the dispute, which would be resolved in civil court. On Friday, the McCormick campaign lodged a lawsuit against the Philadelphia Board of Commissioners — similar to ones the campaign has filed in Bucks and Centre Counties — for defying the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s orders about undated or incorrectly dated ballots.

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

Ellis-Marseglia said she had no response to LaCivita’s post, which comes amid a broader push from Republicans pressuring Casey to concede the race.

His post was in response to Steven Law, CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC, who reposted an image of financial contributions from Ellis-Marseglia’s PAC to Casey’s reelection bid.

This year, the PAC made a $800 total contribution to Bob Casey for Senate Inc. and another total $800 contribution to the Casey Keystone Victory Fund. Law, noting these contributions, said the board’s decision to count undated ballots is “metastasizing into a RICO scheme.”

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

In a PennLive guest editorial Monday, Casey reasserted his reason for staying in the race and allowing the recount process to move forward.

“Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and the worth 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 waiting in long lines and taking time away from their work and family, they deserve to have their vote counted, whether it is the first ballot counted or the last.”

Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.

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