Cabell election challenge targets state’s voter address change procedure

In his tight race for the Republican nomination, state Rep. Michael Cabell is taking aim at the state’s automatic voter registration address change procedure tied to vehicles, according to a Thursday court filing.

Cabell and April 23 primary election challenger Jamie Walsh are currently three votes apart, with Walsh ahead. Both have pending appeals in Commonwealth Court over the tallying of certain votes in the 117th House District.

Thursday’s filing dealt with Cabell’s request to accept a Butler Township paper provisional ballot and reject a Lake Township one.

Shane O’Donnell’s voter registration was switched from Butler Township in Luzerne County’s 117th District to McAdoo borough in Schuylkill County in December when he changed his vehicle registration address to McAdoo.

O’Donnell, who is Cabell’s cousin, said he did not move to McAdoo until March 29 and did not recall checking any box on the vehicle registration in December that would also change his voter registration address.

County Acting Election Director Emily Cook had testified motorists must check a box on the state transportation department vehicle registration renewal site if they don’t want to change their voter registration address while updating their vehicle registration address.

The county Election Board rejected O’Donnell’s ballot because he was registered to vote outside the county, and the county Court of Common Pleas affirmed the board’s decision. Cabell’s attorney, Shohin H. Vance, had argued O’Donnell’s ballot should be counted because his March 29 move fell within a 30-day window to vote at a prior residence preceding an election.

Cabell’s Thursday filing asserts “the practice of automatically updating an elector’s voter registration address” adopted by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Department State last summer, “violates Pennsylvania’s voter registration statute and the attendant regulations,” making the change in O’Donnell’s registration “unlawful and void.”

“Even if the practice of automatically updating an elector’s voter registration can somehow be squared with state law, such a binding norm may only be implemented through duly promulgated regulations, in the absence of which, the change in O’Donnell’s voter registration was unlawful and void,” the filing states.

Regarding the Lake Township ballot of Timothy J. Wagner, Cabell argues it should not be counted because Wagner did not sign the outer envelope a second time when handing it in at the polling place.

Wagner said he could not remember if he signed the outer envelope but testified “unequivocally, that he intended to and believed that he did cast his vote in the 117th District nominating contest for Jamie Walsh,” court records said.

Section 1210 of the state’s Election Code says a provisional ballot should not be counted if one of the two signatures is missing. County judges upheld the election board’s decision to count Wagner’s ballot, citing appellate court opinions recognizing the need to liberally interpret the code in favor of enfranchisement when the voter’s intent is clear and fraud is not an issue.

Cabell’s Thursday filing cited the two-signature code requirement and asserted Wagner “waived and forfeited” his right to correct or “cure” the defect by failing to appear before the county Election Board during its stage of the challenge process.

The filing also claims Wagner’s ballot was “rendered invalid by his deliberate decision to disclose, on the record, the candidates for whom he voted in violation of the secrecy requirement enshrined in Article VII, Section 4 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, as well as the Election Code.”