Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said his wife dropped off his ballot for him, which is illegal and punish

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Business Insider

punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in an interview last week said his wife dropped off his ballot for him ahead of Election Day, which is illegal and carries possible jail time and a fine.

"I didn't show up in person at the polls. We voted a couple weeks ago, actually," Wolf said during an appearance on the Pittsburgh radio station KDKA, according to a report from Spotlight PA. "My wife actually dropped it off personally two weeks ago, so it's there."

As Spotlight PA reported, Pennsylvania law in most cases prohibits any person from submitting another person's ballot. The act is punishable by up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000, according to the report. Individuals who live with disabilities are able to designate another person to turn in their ballot, the report said.

A spokesperson for Wolf, a Democrat, told the Harrisburg local news outlet ABC 27 that the incident was an "honest mistake."


Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pennsylvania-gov-tom-wolf-said-his-wife-dropped-off-his-ballot-for-him-which-is-illegal-and-punishable-by-a-1-000-fine-and-up-to-a-year-in-prison/ar-AAQq9PK?li=BB141NW3&ocid=DELLDHP

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You can't drop a ballot off from a member of your own household? That's a tad absurd if you ask me.

[secondwind]

1. First I hear of this...

[DENVERPOPS]

21. First and only reason you heard of this

Is Republicans being able to point out Dem voting fraud.

How is there even a law like this on the books???????????

[Pisces]

2. I'm in Arizona and we have mail in ballot. You are also allowed to drop off ballot at an early

Voting location. You are allowed to drop off family memeber ballots at the same time that are sealed and signed.

[NullTuples]

14. FTA: Pennsylvania law in most cases prohibits any person from submitting another person's ballot.

[cbabe]

3. Crystal Mason. Texas black woman makes honest voting mistake, goes to jail.

[catrose]

45. First person I thought of.

[marble falls]

4. And that's the problem. Picking and choosing the laws one decide to ignore.

[pnwmom]

17. I bet most PA voters don't know about that peculiar law. n/t

[FBaggins]

5. It varies from state to state

In some areas, you can go door to door picking I’m up ballots fir people. In others that’s explicitly banned.

Don’t know PA, but this seems excessive

[piddyprints]

6. Of course, an honest mistake

made by a Democrat will bring the most severe punishment allowed.

Meanwhile, the insurrectionists and traitors walk free. SMDH

[Orrex]

7. He should have had his 17 year old son try to vote for him twice

[maxsolomon]

8. I gave mine to the mailman.

Send me to the hoosegow!

[LisaL]

9. That is a very stupid law.

Family members dropping off a ballot should be legal. It's legal in my state.

[jimfields33]

10. It up to the state that this very governor signed

Clearly he wanted the rule.

[Calista241]

18. I kinda like the Pennsylvania law.

It should Prevent abusive spouses from forcing their partners to vote the way they want them to.

[LisaL]

19. How would it prevent that?

First of all, the law is clearly impossible to enforce. Are you going to put a cop next to each mailbox to make sure people are only dropping off their ballots?
Second of all, an abusive spouse can still force their partner to vote the way they want to. Not being allowed (in theory) to drop off your partner's ballot doesn't prevent that.

[Torchlight]

43. I was wondering your second point as well.

Seems really naive to me to believe abusers would be foiled by this.

[Sneederbunk]

11. Does this mean you cannot put a spouse's mail-in ballot in the mailbox?

[bucolic_frolic]

12. Last I read last year

he is being treated for cancer, so there is that and I could see fatigue being a factor in asking another family member for a dropoff.

[DallasNE]

13. Is That A Recent Change In The Law?

Most states allow for members of households to drop off ballots for the household. What they want to avoid is harvesting of ballots, generally meaning more than 6. But that is tough to enforce when there are unmanned drop-off boxes where there is no way to know if 1, 2 or 30 ballots are being dropped off. That means that people in nursing homes and hospitals are disenfranchised because they are physically unable to drop off their own ballots.

[NullTuples]

15. Did he designate her in writing to deliver his ballot? If so it is allowed. If not it's not allowed.

"Under Pennsylvania law, voters must return their own ballots. The only exceptions to this are for voters with a disability who have designated someone in writing to deliver their ballot."

[orleans]

16. does the gov. have a disability? otherwise doesn't sound like she could drop off his ballot

regardless if he put something in writing

[NullTuples]

20. He was treated for cancer last year, so I think it's safe to assume the answer is yes.

[former9thward]

28. No, it is not safe to assume.

He said it was an "honest mistake". He did not say he had any type of disability that would prevent him from returning the ballot himself. He is the governor. I am pretty sure people would know if a governor had that type of disability.

[NullTuples]

29. Ah, well then. Hang 'em high.

And by that I just mean he screwed up & should have to go through whatever anyone else would.

[former9thward]

38. No one is going to be hung.

No one really cares. Its just a political gotcha that parties play on each other.

[Permanut]

40. Right; both parties are exactly the same.

[NullTuples]

41. yes. I know.

[Rebl2]

22. I agree

it’s ridiculous that a spouse can’t drop off a ballot for you.

[George II]

23. That's a ridiculous law if it even applies here. The ballots are in sealed envelopes....

...and the inner envelope has the voter's name and a serial number, so there's no possibility of submitting a fake ballot.

I assume it was an absentee ballot, so what if she took it to the corner mailbox to "deliver" it by USPS?

Here in Connecticut anyone now can get an absentee ballot without having a reason, and they can either be mailed back or dropped in the Town Hall drop box. Anyone can do it.

[Igel]

24. On the other hand,

if you collect 10 ballots and know that three are from people that voted for the other candidate, not yours, they just might never make it to the drop box.

Sure, somebody may complain if they check to see if they voted, but there are a few reasons to explain things if the official record says they didn't vote.

Family members don't usually play those shenanigans. But ballot harvesters in general might.

[hay rick]

25. Time for another lynch party.

Think our media will give this outrage the inattention it deserves? Think again. Welcome to America in the Yeare of Our Lorde, MMXXI.

[LogicFirst]

26. If you mail it, the postal person delivers it. What is the problem?

[Deminpenn]

27. Gov Wolf should know the law

nt

[rpannier]

30. Absurd probably. But he is governor of the state

[lagomorph777]

31. That's a voter suppression law. Need to fix it at the Federal level.

States should not be allowed to enact shit like that.

[Deminpenn]

32. PA voting laws have always been strict

Up until the R state legislature passed revisions a couple years ago, voters needed a reason to vote by absentee ballot. If the voter was physically unable to sign the absentee ballot envelope, they needed the signature of a witness, complete with witnesses address, to verify the identity of the voter. Absentee ballots must be received by 8PM election day as well.

PA has no such thing as early voting, i.e. actual polling places open before election day, either.

[lagomorph777]

33. It was bad in VA until we got Northam and a Dem majority in 2017.

I just hope our Senate can hold the line on voter suppression until 2025.

[moose65]

34. That early voting thing is ridiculous

Especially in large cities! I love being able to go vote on my timetable. Early voting in NC began in those long-ago glory days when Democrats controlled our state legislature. Once the Republicans took over, it was hard for them to eliminate early voting, so they have tried to shorten the period and throw up other restrictions. Assholes.

[Deminpenn]

37. It's been that way in PA forever afaik

nt

[El Mimbreno]

35. Absurd, yes, but there should be a procedure...

In New Mexico you can assign a family member to drop your sealed absentee ballot.

[The Jungle 1]

36. How about we talk about how the Philadelphia and Reading school systems which are full failures.

The republican controlled legislature refuses to do anything to help. Of course White Amricans are only 14% of the Philadelphia school system. Go figure. Reading is also considered a failed school system. But at least the white suburbs have great schools. There is that.

[Deminpenn]

39. There's a big lawsuit over school funding now in the courts

that could reach a conclusion next year. The legislature did enact a fair funding formula in conjunction with Gov Wolf's administration, but they only apply it to part of the state school funding.

The school funding inequality isn't limited to urban schools, it affects schools in conservative/Republican more rural counties and areas, too.

[The Jungle 1]

42. Correct

However I do not think the failure is quite a stark as when looking at Philadelphia and Reading For awhile these two schools had close to a 50% drop out rate. The numbers are some what lower now. That said I am not an expert on the subject. Depending on real estate taxes for school funding will create this unfairness.
I did not know about the lawsuit. That could force change. I will look it up.

[Deminpenn]

46. The new funding formula has probably helped, but

the R-controlled state legislature has so far refused to apply it to 100% of the money the state allocates to schools. IIRC, the formula is only applied to "new" funding which would be the extra amount, if any, year over year.

[The Jungle 1]

44. The lawsuit was filed in 2014.

Now that is painfully slow.