Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Secretary Boockvar Unilaterally Altered Four Core Mail Ballot Provisions Without Legislative Authorization – Certification Rests on Legally Altered Foundation (PA)

[Disputed Fact – As to ultimate legal effect on certification validity] The Pennsylvania Election Code, as enacted by the General Assembly in Act 77 of 2019, specified four specific mail ballot requirements: (1) all ballots received after 8:00 p.m. on Election Day shall not be counted; (2) all mail-in ballots must include a postmark; (3) signatures on ballot envelopes must be authenticated; and (4) defective ballots shall not be counted. All four provisions were altered without legislative authorization before or during the election: the Pennsylvania Supreme Court extended the receipt deadline to November 6 (three days post-election) and eliminated the postmark requirement; the court later eliminated signature verification; and Secretary Boockvar issued selective ballot-curing guidance on November 2, 2020, allowing defective ballot remediation in some counties but not others. On January 28, 2022, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania struck down Act 77 as unconstitutional – confirming that all 2.48 million mail ballots in 2020 were cast under a system subsequently found constitutionally invalid by the court with primary state election law jurisdiction. Certification of results incorporating 2.48 million ballots issued under a statutory framework later ruled unconstitutional, and further incorporating court-modified procedural requirements not authorized by the legislature, rests on a legal foundation of documented constitutional infirmity.