As one election-related legal battle ended this weekend, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, started another with his latest lawsuit.

On Saturday, federal Judge Matthew Brann dismissed with prejudice a case filed by the Trump campaign and two lawyers to stop the certification of Pennsylvania's ballots.

But almost simultaneously Saturday, U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly, R-16, and others filed a new lawsuit asking the state to remove mail-in ballots from the Nov. 3 election results.

In the dismissed case, Brann said the plaintiffs provided “strained legal arguments without merit” and accusations that were not backed by any evidence.

“In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most-populated state,” Brann said.

On the matter of “cured ballots,” Brann found that the plaintiffs offered two possible connections to legal precedences. Brann didn't buy it.

“This claim, like Frankenstein's Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together from two distinct theories in an attempt to avoid controlling precedent,” Brann said.

Brann also struck down the claims brought forth by the individual plaintiffs. He said those plaintiffs were unable to connect their claims, that their ballots had been canceled, to Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar or a county department.

“Even assuming that they can establish that their right to vote has been denied, which they cannot, Plaintiffs seek to remedy the denial of their votes by invalidating the votes of millions of others,” Brann said.

Along with the dismissal, Brann offered no opportunity for the plaintiffs to amend the suit, which keeps counties on track to certify election results to Boockvar by the Monday's deadline.

Lyndsay Kensinger, press secretary for the governor's office, reiterated in a statement Sunday that the Nov. 3 election was free, fair and secure. She also discredited attempts to remove votes.

“Millions of Pennsylvanians followed the rules allowed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court of the United States, and each voter, regardless of political party, must have their voice heard,” she said.

In a statement Saturday, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-15, who claimed to be a Trump supporter and voter, applauded the decision and called for the president to accept the loss.

“President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania,” Toomey said. “I congratulate President-elect (Joe) Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory.”

However, on Sunday, the president filed an appeal of the lawsuit's dismissal with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kelly's actions

With Monday's deadline looming, Kelly's lawsuit filed Saturday again calls for a halt in the certification process while it argues that the universal mail-in ballot provisions of Act 77 are unconstitutional.Act 77 of 2019 provided voters in Pennsylvania the ability to cast their vote early by either mail-in or absentee ballot.More than 2.6 million mail-in ballots were reported received by counties, and there has been no report by state or county election officials of fraud or any other problem with the accuracy of the count.Kelly's name appears first on the lawsuit, but he was also joined by Sean Parnell of Allegheny County and Wanda Logan of Philadelphia County, losing Republican candidates in the Nov. 3 election for U.S. District 17 and state House District 190 respectively. Five private citizens also appeared as plaintiffs.The lawsuit lists the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the state's General Assembly, Gov. Tom Wolf and Boockvar as plaintiffs.The lawsuit claims state legislators should have amended the state's constitution to make the changes made in Act 77.“The legislature did not follow the necessary procedures for amending the constitution before enacting Act 77,” the lawsuit said.Kensinger called Kelly's lawsuit a “new low bar” because he is refuting a piece of legislation that was passed with an “overwhelming” bipartisan vote in 2019. She said state officials plan to fight every attempt made to disenfranchise voters, including Kelly's suit.“To be clear, Congressman Kelly is seeking to disenfranchise the nearly 2.7 million Pennsylvania voters who voted by mail-in ballot in the general election, including over 100,000 of his own constituents,” Kensinger said.Kelly had filed a different lawsuit weeks ago, calling for the removal of mail-in ballots that had been received by counties after the Nov. 3 election, despite a previous court ruling that allow for an extended acceptance period.The case was dismissed, but did re-enforce that counties should segregate mail-in ballots that had been received after Nov. 3, which Boockvar later said the counties were already doing.Last Week, Kelly also introduced a bill calling for election reforms, including polling place observations and pre-counted mail-in ballots.Kelly could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Mike Kelly