Bucks County officials face calls to resign for violating court order at rowdy commissioners meeting

GOP activists flooded the Bucks County Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday, loudly calling for Democratic members of the board to resign and launching a longshot impeachment effort over board members’ decisions last week to defy court orders related to mail and provisional ballots.

The Democratic-led county was one of several across the state that voted last week to count undated mail ballots — despite Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings that those ballots could not be counted — as litigation over the requirement continued.

On Monday, the state’s high court reiterated its order, blocking the county from counting the ballots, but Bucks has remained the center of a firestorm — fueled by a backlash to viral comments from Democratic Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia.

Ellis-Marseglia, in justifying her vote to count provisional ballots that lacked one of two required voter signatures, declared that court precedent no longer mattered in the U.S. and said she was taking her vote to get a court’s attention. “People violate laws any time they want,” she said.

Ellis-Marseglia said this week that her words were misinterpreted and apologized for the confusion they caused. She opened the Wednesday meeting by addressing the controversy, apologizing repeatedly while many in the crowd heckled and booed.

Her reference to court precedent not mattering, she said, was a comment on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Since her comments went viral, Ellis-Marseglia said, she has faced threats and vitriol.

“We all say things that are out of turn. We all make mistakes. I made a mistake,” she said.

Ellis-Marseglia’s comments became a flashpoint for GOP anger over the county’s decisions amid the sharp scrutiny of the state’s vote counting as the Senate race is in the midst of a recount.

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey trails Republican Dave McCormick by more than 17,000 votes.

Casey has used standard legal procedures to fight for as many remaining provisional and mail ballots as possible to be counted as the race plays out, but the county-level wrangling over ballots has led to accusations from Republicans that Democrats are attempting to “steal” the race.

“This is a travesty that we have to be here today to make sure the law is followed,” Pat Poprick, the chair of the Bucks County GOP, said in a news conference ahead of the public meeting.

Bucks County is one of just three counties in the state that went for Casey in the Senate race, but also went for President-elect Donald Trump in the presidential contest.

The divisions in the community were on display Wednesday.

Hundreds of residents flooded the meeting, filling the 200-person capacity meeting room in Doylestown and overflowing into a separate room in the county courthouse. Many carried signs calling Ellis-Marseglia and fellow Democratic commissioner Bob Harvie tyrants, with some calling for their arrest.

Throughout the meeting, the crowd often broke out in cries of support for speakers or outrage at the commissioners.

As the commissioners adjourned the meeting and walked out of the room, many erupted in chants of “lock her up,” reminiscent of Trump’s 2016 refrain about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

As Scott Presler, a GOP influencer who worked to register GOP voters in Pennsylvania ahead of the election and a longtime peddler of false claims of election fraud, entered the room the crowd applauded. Attendees lined up to take photos with the influencer as they waited for the public meeting to start.

“We are coming for your seat in 2027 if you don’t resign today,” Presler declared during public comment, noting the year Ellis-Marseglia is up for reelection.

Ellis-Marseglia can be heard in video of the meeting responding “have at it.”

Over two hours, dozens of people offered public comment bringing a smorgasbord of complaints over Ellis-Marseglia’s comments, the board’s votes, and the administration of elections in Bucks County. Several claimed, without proof, that last week’s episode proved that Democrats had and would cheat in elections — reviving false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election.

Speakers frequently called for Ellis-Marseglia and Harvie to resign and often called for them to be criminally prosecuted, though their votes are unlikely to be considered a violation of criminal law.

Both officials sat in the front of the room, occasionally making faces but rarely looking at speakers as Ellis-Marseglia called person after person to the podium. At one point, amid an outcry from the crowd because a speaker was cut off, the commissioners called for a five-minute break and exited the room.

“You two should be removed from office. You should be prosecuted. Do the county a favor and resign,” said Joe Linus, a longtime Bucks County poll worker.

One speaker, Terry Warrington, rebuffed Ellis-Marseglia’s apology for her statements.

“We now hear you will work hard not to make those mistakes again — publicly,” he said.

Beth Zigler, of Milford Township, used the meeting to call for hand counting of ballots — a push that has emerged following false claims of fraud in 2020 even though the method is less accurate.

At times the complaints went beyond elections to broad complaints about Democratic leadership, including frustration over LGBTQ rights, immigration and crime rates.

Skip Salvaseen, a speaker at the GOP news conference, urged attendees to sign an online petition urging the impeachment of Ellis-Marseglia and Harvie.

“Impeachment is the last step on a very long road, but the journey has started,” Salvaseen said.

Any decision to impeach the officials would go through the Pennsylvania General Assembly and is an uphill battle in the Democratic-controlled House.

Poprick acknowledged in an interview that impeachment was unlikely, but said she hoped the outrage Wednesday would send a clear message to the commissioners.

She called the commissioners hypocrites for criticizing Trump repeatedly for not respecting the rule of law.

“I think you have to realize that your actions have severe consequences on voters and I don’t think they thought about it and if they did they ignored it,” she said.

State Rep. Joe Hogan (R., Bucks), said some state lawmakers discussed filing articles of impeachment against Ellis-Marseglia, but “that’s not the direction we’re gonna proceed in at this time.”

Instead, local lawmakers will allow voters and law enforcement to decide how to move forward.

“Ultimately, the voters are going to decide what they’re going to do,” Hogan added.

Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.