Pennsylvania’s top election official can decertify voting machines, state court says
Case grew out of Fulton County’s unproven efforts to prove problems with Dominion machines
Pennsylvania’s top election official has the authority to decertify county voting machines inspected by unauthorized companies, the Commonwealth Court ruled on Dec. 31.
The decision involves Fulton County in western Pennsylvania, which twice allowed inspections of its Dominion Voting machines by companies after the 2020 election in a protracted effort to show problems with the units even though Donald Trump captured 85% of the county’s vote.
The court, citing the state Election Code, said the commonwealth secretary oversees approval of which voting systems can be used by counties and can revoke that approval if he determines units had been compromised after being inspected by a vendor not approved by the state.
The commonwealth secretary can decide whether voting machines “can be safely used by voters at elections,” the court said in an opinion written by President Judge Renee Cohn Jubilerer. The opinion noted the state legislature had given the commonwealth secretary the power to make that determination.
The court voted 6-1 to reject Fulton County’s argument that the state does not have the power to decertify voting machines because such authority rests with counties, which buy and use the machines.
The lone dissent came from Judge Patricia A. McCullough, who disagreed and wrote in her opinion that “decertification of the County’s voting devices was arbitrary, capricious, legally improper, and an error of law. … Moreover, the legislature has not conferred such rulemaking power upon the Secretary anywhere in the Election Code.”
The Department of State, headed by Commonwealth Secretary Al Schmidt, said in a statement that it was “pleased” with the decision.
“The Shapiro Administration is committed to ensuring the free and secure administration of elections, and this decision recognizes that the Secretary is empowered to keep voting systems secure from unauthorized third parties seeking to undermine confidence in Pennsylvania’s elections,” the statement said. Schmidt, who began his job in 2023, inherited the Fulton County lawsuit that began under his predecessors.
After the 2020 presidential election, Wake Technology Services Inc. examined the county’s machines. Upon learning that, the state said the machines could not be used in future elections because the units’ security was compromised.
The county then sued the state in 2021, saying county officials, not the state, have authority over the machines and sought money from the state to replace the units. A state court prohibited the county from allowing access to its machines while the dispute was resolved in court.
However, the state learned the county violated the court order by allowing another company, Speckin Forensics, to inspect the machines. The state then sued the county, its two commissioners and the county’s lawyer, Thomas J. Carroll of Bethlehem, seeking reimbursement of its court expenses.
The court last August ordered the county, the officials and Carroll of Bethlehem to share the cost of reimbursing the state more than $1 million in legal fees and court costs. The Fulton County News reported last week that lawyers for the state and county are discussing the matter.
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