Thomas More Society applauds its Special Counsel Tom King’s and Tom Breth’s election integrity achievement in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in its November 1, 2022, decision to keep undated mail-in or absentee ballots from being counted. Election integrity has been a key focus for Thomas More Society which is a not-for-profit, national public interest law firm, whose attorneys filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief supporting Pennsylvania voters in a lawsuit they brought against Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Leigh Chapman and all 67 of the state’s County Boards of Elections. In the case, Thomas More Society Special Counsel Tom King and Tom Breth represented Republican Party of Pennsylvania as its General Counsel.

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal observed that state Supreme Court justices’ ruling makes a strong statement in support of protecting the vote. And he noted that this decision came down just in time, a week before tabulation begins in races for Pennsylvania’s governor, the United State Senate, and the Pennsylvania Legislature.

“Thomas More Society’s election integrity project just got a remarkable boost,” stated Kaardal, who is representing election integrity groups in multiple states. “Tom King’s contribution here is fantastic. The idea that a state’s election officials can pick and choose what election code provisions to honor and which to ignore is a dangerous notion, and one that violates the people’s right to fair and representative elections. This litigation was fully consistent with Thomas More Society’s election integrity practice, which aims to raise voters’ confidence in our elections by holding public officials accountable to following applicable election laws rather than ignoring or flouting them.”

In this case, Thomas More Society attorneys had filed the amicus brief supporting Pennsylvania voters, arguing that the acting secretary’s attempt to justify violating Pennsylvania’s election code to avoid racial discrimination was unfounded and misdirected.

Chapman defended her action in accepting undated mail-in and absentee ballots with what the Thomas More Society brief labeled as a misapplication and inappropriate use of provisions of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, a matter in which the court remained undecided.