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👂 What We’re Hearing. The Congressional Leadership Fund has reserved $3.8 million in ad space in Philadelphia against Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) in the 7th District. “It’s absolutely one of the most important races in the country,” said Stephen Medvic, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College. “And the way it looks now, it’s a toss-up.”

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Top Story

1. It Took Days For the 2020 Election To Be Called Because of Slow PA Mail Ballot Counting. It Could Happen Again

“Election officials in Pennsylvania are warning that because of inaction in Harrisburg, the swing state’s votes may again take days to count, creating a window for bad actors to sow distrust in the results.

County election officials have been petitioning state lawmakers to update the state’s election code for years. They’ve also persistently asked the General Assembly to clarify questions surrounding which mail ballots can and cannot be counted to address voting rights litigation that has played out in Pennsylvania since no-excuse mail voting was authorized in 2019.

But as November approaches, little has changed since 2020 — when former President Donald Trump used the slow counting process to promote unfounded claims of voter fraud in the wake of his defeat.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Elsewhere

Biden and Harris Make Joint Pitch For Labor Support in Pittsburgh. “President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, making their first joint campaign appearance since last month’s Democratic National Convention, marked Labor Day in Pittsburgh as they wooed a crucial constituency for the fall election — union members.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Harris, Biden Double Down On Opposition of U.S. Steel’s Sale In Joint Campaign Event. “Kamala Harris used a Labor Day address in Pittsburgh to reiterate iconic U.S. Steel should remain an American company despite its apparent acquisition by a Japanese firm.” (New Castle News)

Why Pennsylvania and Georgia Are Must-Win States in November. “For Kamala Harris, it is Pennsylvania. For Donald Trump, it is Georgia. Each campaign has a state that is arguably “must-win” in its path to 270 electoral votes, which explains why both nominees are expending so much time, energy and money in those two places—to secure their own prize and block the other. ” (Wall Street Journal)

Senate Rankings: 5 Seats Most Likely to Flip. “There’s no way to slice it: It has not been a good couple of days for David McCormick. Yet, some Republicans still see a glimmer of hope in the Keystone State.” (The Hill)

‘Useful Idiot for Russia’: DNC Decides to Go Off on Jill Stein. “After ten months of almost completely ignoring Jill Stein’s impossibly long-shot presidential bill, the Democratic party is now actively trying to bury her.” (The Bulwark)

State

2. Mail Ballots Can’t Be Rejected Over Improper Date on Envelope, Pennsylvania Court Rules

“Not counting a voter’s mail ballot because they failed to properly date the return envelope violates their rights under the state constitution, a Pennsylvania appellate court ruled Friday.

Republicans said they would immediately appeal the ruling to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. But if the decision stands, it could affect thousands of ballots and influence the outcome of close races.” (PoliticsPA)

Elsewhere

PA Election 2024: A Complete Guide to the Candidates For Attorney General. “With a budget of $144 million and a staff of 1,060 prosecutors, attorneys, investigators, and other staff, the Office of Attorney General is, at its core, the law firm that represents Pennsylvania’s vast government and defends its laws in court.” (Spotlight PA)

Republicans Demand Answers on Democratic State Senate Candidate’s Car Crash. “The only point the two sides agree on is that Nicole Ruscitto, who is challenging GOP state Sen. Devlin Robinson in the 37th District covering a large part of Allegheny County, was involved in a car accident in Clairton, south of Pittsburgh.” (PennLive)

‘It Really Helps:’ State Funding Supports Election Administration Costs In Local Counties. “Pennsylvania’s Election Integrity Grant Program established under the bipartisan Act 88 of 2022 delivers funding to counties to support election administration efforts and operations. Among other eligible uses, counties can deploy grant funding to pay election staff and poll workers, pay for ballot printing and cover physical security and transparency costs tied to the centralized pre-canvassing and canvassing of ballots.” (Scranton Times-Tribune)

Ex-PA Lawmakers Promote Election Security With Bipartisan Democracy Defense Project. “In an era of bitter political hostility and a partisan divide as deep as it has been, some say, since the Civil War, former Pennsylvania lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle are finding common ground in the name of preserving America’s democratic process.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Around The Commonwealth

3. This Lehigh Valley Congressional Race Is Overshadowed By the Presidential Election But Could Determine Who Controls the House

“Unmindful of any political contest beyond the race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, few people interviewed in Allentown, Easton, and Bethlehem last week could name the people running for Congress in their area.

Yet the stakes also couldn’t be higher in what has become a competitive, nationally consequential race that could help decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the next two years.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Elsewhere

Divided On Abortion, Inflation and Immigration, Pittsburgh Suburbs Could Swing 2024 Presidential Race. “Shaler and West Mifflin split down the middle in the 2020 election. Voters there now are focused on familiar issues as they and their neighbors are set to cast crucial votes in November.” (Public Source)

Taking the Pulse of PA Trump Country on the Lincoln Highway As 2024 Election Heats Up. “We hit the road and randomly met people from eastern Lancaster County through Gettysburg, asking them about their lives and how they plan on voting.” (York Daily Record)

Police Say a Man Will Face Charges After Storming Into the Press Area at a Trump Rally. “Police said Saturday that a man will face misdemeanor charges after he stormed into the press area at Donald Trump’s rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, before being surrounded by authorities and eventually subdued with a Taser as the former president spoke at the campaign stop.” (AP)

2020 Election Deniers Ordered to Pay $1 Million In Pennsylvania Voting Machine Dispute. “A Pennsylvania judge has determined that three 2020 election deniers must pay nearly $1 million in fees as the result of a years-long legal dispute with state officials over voting equipment used during the last presidential race, according to recent court filings.” (CNN)

Editorial

4. What’s On Your Mind

• It’s Hard to Run As An Outsider When You’re The Incumbent, But That Isn’t Stopping Kamala Harris From Trying. (Kyle Sammin)
• Note to MAGA: Stick to VP Kamala Harris’ Politics and Drop the Sexual Slander. (Jencice Armstrong)
• Who Are the Undecided Voters Who Will Decide the Election? (Salena Zito)
• In Barring PG From Campaign Coverage, Harris-Walz Become What They Oppose. (Brandon McGinley)
• How the 14th Amendment Prevents State Legislatures From Subverting Popular Presidential Elections. (Eric Eisner and David B. Froomkin)

1 Thing

5. How a Pennsylvania Man Started An Imaginary Country in Antarctica

“Travis McHenry had never heard of a micronation when he started his first, almost by accident, in the Kittatinny mountains of northeast Pennsylvania.

Years after Casbah’s quiet collapse, McHenry would orchestrate one of the largest land grabs in history, staking a completely symbolic claim to a 620,000-square-mile, Alaska-sized chunk of melting Antarctica and proclaiming it the newest (and maybe biggest) micronation on Earth: Westarctica.

McHenry, a Bloomsburg University alum, would appoint himself monocratic ruler without ever setting foot there, and 2,300 people (and counting) would voluntarily become fully remote Westarctica citizens. Online elections held last year crowned a new prime minister, the third ever.” (PA Local)

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