DSCC and DCCC Seek To Participate in Pennsylvania Lawsuit Over Mail-in Voting

UPDATE: On Monday, Aug. 8, the Democratic National Committee and Pennsylvania Democratic Party also filed a motion to intervene in the case in order to defend Act 77.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, Aug. 5, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) filed a motion to intervene in Bonner v. Chapman. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Republican state legislators, challenges Act 77 of the Pennsylvania Election Code, a 2019 law that largely expanded mail-in voting in the Commonwealth. Notably, Act 77 was passed with the support of 11 out of the 14 Republican legislators who are now suing to strike down the law. The exact same group of plaintiffs already sued over the law last year and lost their case on Aug. 2 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the law. 

The Republicans behind this new lawsuit argue that the entirety of Act 77 should be struck down. In seeking to participate in the case, the DSCC and DCCC want to defend the law and mail-in voting from this attack. In their motion to intervene, the Democratic organizations point out that a majority of the Republican plaintiffs supported this law’s passage in 2019, but argue that, because Democrats voted by mail at a higher rate than Republicans during the 2020 election cycle, the lawmakers’ “about-face regarding a previously uncontroversial voting method” is behind their current opposition to the law and mail-in voting in general. 

Read the organizations’ motion to intervene here.

Learn more about the case here.