Trump v. Sec'y Pennsylvania
| Decision Date | 27 November 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. 20-3371,20-3371 |
| Parties | DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC.; LAWRENCE ROBERTS; DAVID JOHN HENRY, Appellants v. SECRETARY COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA; ALLEGHENY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS; CENTRE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS; CHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS; DELAWARE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS; MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS; NORTHAMPTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS; PHILADELPHIA COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
NOT PRECEDENTIAL
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)
on November 25, 2020
Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, and CHAGARES and BIBAS, Circuit Judges
Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.
The Trump Presidential Campaign asserts that Pennsylvania's 2020 election was unfair. But as lawyer Rudolph Giuliani stressed, the Campaign Mot. to Dismiss Hr'g Tr. 118:19-20, 137:18. Instead, it objects that Pennsylvania's Secretary of State and some counties restricted poll watchers and let voters fix technical defects in their mail-in ballots. It offers nothing more.
This case is not about whether those claims are true. Rather, the Campaign appeals on a very narrow ground: whether the District Court abused its discretion in not letting the Campaign amend its complaint a second time. It did not.
Most of the claims in the Second Amended Complaint boil down to issues of state law. But Pennsylvania law is willing to overlook many technical defects. It favors counting votes as long as there is no fraud. Indeed, the Campaign has already litigated and lost many of these issues in state courts.
The Campaign tries to repackage these state-law claims as unconstitutional discrimination. Yet its allegations are vague and conclusory. It never alleges that anyone treated the Trump campaign or Trump votes worse than it treated the Biden campaign or Biden votes. And federal law does not require poll watchers or specify how they may observe. It also says nothing about curing technical state-law errors in ballots. Each of these defects is fatal,and the proposed Second Amended Complaint does not fix them. So the District Court properly denied leave to amend again.
Nor does the Campaign deserve an injunction to undo Pennsylvania's certification of its votes. The Campaign's claims have no merit. The number of ballots it specifically challenges is far smaller than the roughly 81,000-vote margin of victory. And it never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters. Plus, tossing out millions of mail-in ballots would be drastic and unprecedented, disenfranchising a huge swath of the electorate and upsetting all down-ballot races too. That remedy would be grossly disproportionate to the procedural challenges raised. So we deny the motion for an injunction pending appeal.
In Pennsylvania, each county runs its own elections. 25 Pa. Stat. § 2641(a). Counties choose and staff polling places. § 2642(b), (d). They buy their own ballot boxes and voting booths and machines. § 2642(c). They even count the votes and post the results. § 2642(k), (l). In all this, counties must follow Pennsylvania's Election Code and regulations. But counties can, and do, adopt rules and guidance for election officers and electors. § 2642(f). And they are charged with ensuring that elections are "honestly, efficiently, and uniformly conducted." § 2642(g).
1. Poll watchers and representatives. Counties must admit qualified poll "watchers" to observe votes being tallied. 25 Pa. Stat. § 2650(a). Poll watchers must be registered to vote in the county where they will serve. § 2687(b). Each candidate can pick two poll watchers per election district; each political party, three. § 2687(a). The poll watchersremain at the polling place while election officials count in-person ballots. § 2687(b). They can ask to check voting lists. Id. And they get to be present when officials open and count all the mail-in ballots. § 3146.8(b). Likewise, candidates' and political parties' "representatives" may be present when absentee and mail-in ballots are inspected, opened, or counted, or when provisional ballots are examined. §§ 2602(a.1), (q.1), 3050(a.4)(4), 3146.8(g)(1.1) & (2); see also § 3050(a.4)(12) (defining provisional ballots as those cast by voters whose voter registration cannot be verified right away).
Still, counties have some control over these poll watchers and representatives. The Election Code does not tell counties how they must accommodate them. Counties need only allow them "in the polling place" or "in the room" where ballots are being inspected, opened, or counted. §§ 2687(b), 3050(a.4)(4), 3146.8(g)(1.1) & (2). Counties are expected to set up "an enclosed space" for vote counters at the polling place, and poll watchers "shall remain outside the enclosed space." § 2687(b). So the counties decide where the watchers stand and how close they get to the vote counters.
2. Mail-in ballots. For decades, Pennsylvania let only certain people, like members of the military and their families, vote by mail. See, e.g., 25 Pa. Stat. § 3146.1. But last year, as part of a bipartisan election reform, Pennsylvania expanded mail-in voting. Act of Oct. 31, 2019, Pub. L. No. 552, sec. 8, § 1310-D, 2019 Pa. Legis. Serv. Act 2019-77 (S.B. 421). Now, any Pennsylvania voter can vote by mail for any reason. See 25 Pa. Stat. §§ 2602(t), 3150.11(a).
To vote by mail, a Pennsylvania voter must take several steps. First, he (or she) must ask the State (Commonwealth) or his county for a mail-in ballot. 25 Pa. Stat. § 3150.12(a).To do that, he must submit a signed application with his name, date of birth, address, and other information. § 3150.12(b)-(c). He must also provide a driver's license number, the last four digits of his Social Security number, or the like. §§ 2602(z.5), 3150.12b(a), (c). Once the application is correct and complete, the county will approve it. See §§ 3150.12a(a), 3150.12b.
Close to the election, the county will mail the voter a mail-in ballot package. § 3150.15. The package has a ballot and two envelopes. The smaller envelope (also called the secrecy envelope) is stamped "Official Election Ballot." § 3150.14(a). The larger envelope is stamped with the county board of election's name and address and bears a printed voter declaration. Id.
Next, the voter fills out the ballot. § 3150.16(a). He then folds the ballot; puts it into the first, smaller secrecy envelope; and seals it. Id. After that, he puts the secrecy envelope inside the larger envelope and seals that too. Id. He must also "fill out, date and sign the declaration printed" on the outside of the larger envelope. §§ 3150.16(a), 3150.14(b). The declaration for the November 2020 election read thus:
In re: Canvass of Absentee and Mail-in Ballots of November 3, 2020 General Election, Nos. 31-35 EAP & 29 WAP 2020, ___ A.3d ___, 2020 WL 6875017, at *4 (Pa. Nov. 23, 2020). Once the voter assembles the ballot packet, he can mail it back or deliver it in person. 25 Pa. Stat. § 3150.16(a).
Not every voter can be expected to follow this process perfectly. Some forget one of the envelopes. Others forget to sign on the dotted line. Some major errors will invalidate a ballot. For instance, counties may not count mail-in ballots that lack secrecy envelopes. Pa. Dem. Party v. Boockvar, 238 A.3d 345, 378-80 (Pa. 2020). But the Election Code says nothing about what should happen if a county notices these errors before election day. Some counties stay silent and do not count the ballots; others contact the voters and give them a chance to correct their errors.
On appeal from the dismissal of a complaint, we take the factual allegations as true:
1. Mail-in voting. For months, Pennsylvanians went to the polls, so to speak. The first batch of mail-in ballots went out to voters in late September. As they trickled back in, election officials noticed that some voters had not followed the rules. Some ballots werenot in secrecy envelopes, so those packages were lighter and thinner than complete ballot packages. Others had declarations that voters had not completed. Some counties did not notify voters about these defective ballots. Others, including the counties named in this suit, decided to reach out to these voters to let them cure their mistakes by voting provisionally on Election Day or asking for a replacement ballot.
2. Election Day. Though more than two million Pennsylvanians voted by mail, even more voted in person. On Election Day, November 3, the Campaign set up poll watchers at polling places around the Commonwealth. Appellees' election officials kept poll watchers and representatives away from where ballots were opened, counted, and tallied. In Philadelphia, for instance, poll watchers were kept six to...
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