Certified Result Built on Procedures Ruled Unconstitutional by Pennsylvania Court (PA)

Pennsylvania’s certified presidential results were transmitted to Congress on a procedural foundation that included: (a) extended ballot receipt deadlines ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court over explicit statutory text; (b) elimination of signature verification for mail-in ballots; and (c) Act 77 of 2019’s universal mail-in ballot provisions, which the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court subsequently held unconstitutional on January 28, 2022, in McLinko v. Department of State. The national certification thus rested on a Pennsylvania state certification that was built on procedures subsequently adjudicated unconstitutional. While courts declined to provide relief in 2020 on procedural grounds, the subsequent constitutional invalidation of the underlying procedures is an established fact that retroactively confirms the certification’s procedural infirmity.