Montco Commissioners Grilled About Unsupervised Ballot Boxes
By Pauline Braccio
Election integrity was the subject of most of those speaking before Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, Sept. 1, and many questions involved the unsupervised ballot drop-boxes placed around the county.
Also, the manner and place where the mail-ballots will be counted was brought up. As well, as the length of time people will have to vote. The mail-in ballots are slated to go out starting on Sept. 19.
That means more than 7 weeks of early voting.
Another hot topic is the unlawful interpretation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Law. The Sunshine Law governs the way public meetings are held. The law is not being followed. Josh Stein, the current county solicitor, is the author of the Rules for Public Comment. It has been brought to his attention on several occasions in the past several months that he is violating not only the Sunshine Law, but the US Constitution, as well. Objections were raised while he was reading the “Rules.”
The new justice center is also of debate. The commissioners approved a building that will cost the residents $500 million over the next three to five years. That is half a billion! Is it any wonder taxes are climbing and will continue to do so? There was no information given as to why this colossal building is necessary. No building plans made public. This is the dream of Judge Thomas DelRicci. He is still a judge on Court of Common Pleas. DelRicci just stepped down as the President Judge.
Please come to the next meeting in person. It is 10 a.m., Thursday, Sept 15 at One Montgomery Plaza, 425 Swede St, Norristown. It is directly across Swede St from the courthouse. The meeting is held on the 8th Floor.
If you attend through Zoom, you will not have the ability to voice an objection during the meeting because your mic will be muted. This is also a violation of the Sunshine Law.
You can watch the Sept 1 meeting here or below.
Start at minute marker 17:31 to get to the beginning of the Public Comment portion and Josh Stein is reading the rules for public comment. What follows are the comments from those in attendance and on Zoom.
I attended several Penn Delco school district board meetings in person and on Zoom. On one of the Zoom meetings the board president, Leon Armour, shouted out while I was making public comments to “mute his mic, I won’t listen to this”. Of course the mic wasn’t muted because the moderator understood that is a violation of my Constitutional rights. This is all documented on the districts YouTube channel.
Pushback is good but we keep electing the same people every time they are on the ballot. That needs to change.
That is great that your mic was not muted. In Pennsbury School District, in Bucks County, the parents brought the school board to court for just that reason. The parents won and Pennsbury paid $300,000.
Here in Montco, North Penn School District pulls the same stunt. It is done by the President of the school board, Tina Stoll. There is a move to take them to court. Hopefully soon!