PRESSURE FROM RITE HOLDS ALLEGHENY COUNTY OFFICIAL ACCOUNTABLE 

Consent Decree Confirms Innamorato Circumvented Public Review

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to a lawsuit launched by RITE to enforce Pennsylvania law, County Executive Sara Innamorato has acknowledged that she lacks authority to unilaterally mandate the use of drop boxes in any elections conducted in Allegheny County. Accordingly, her previous attempt to do so is invalid and unenforceable.

“Those like County Executive Innamorato who administer elections have a solemn obligation to scrupulously follow the law rather than rush to impose their partisan wish lists on their fellow citizens. Citizens need to have confidence that those with power over their lives will follow the rules, and that is especially true for election administrators whose work is essential to ensuring that election results reflect the true will of the people. Unfortunately, too many election officials want to run elections according to their own views, rather than according to what the law requires. Today’s resolution of this case holding Innamorato accountable for her unlawful conduct will help build confidence in elections going forward.”

-Derek Lyons, President of RITE.

Background

A consent decree was filed with the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas confirming that Innamorato’s unilateral declaration regarding drop boxes violated state law. As a result, both the public and the other members of the County Board of Elections will have their voices heard about whether to use drop boxes in upcoming elections, where they should be put, and how they should be staffed and monitored.

RITE will continue to closely monitor Innamorato’s management of county elections.

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Andrew C. McCarthy

Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included 

the 1993 World Trade Center  bombing and a plot to  bomb New York City landmarks. After working on other national security cases, including investigations in Africa after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, he helped supervise the Justice Department’s command center near ground-zero in lower Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. During his 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. He taught trial advocacy at New York Law School, and constitutional issues in criminal law at Fordham Law School. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. In addition to his regular columns at National Review, Andy writes frequently for other major national publications. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion(Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).

Andrew C. McCarthy

Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included 

the 1993 World Trade Center  bombing and a plot to  bomb New York City landmarks. After working on other national security cases, including investigations in Africa after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, he helped supervise the Justice Department’s command center near ground-zero in lower Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. During his 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. He taught trial advocacy at New York Law School, and constitutional issues in criminal law at Fordham Law School. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. In addition to his regular columns at National Review, Andy writes frequently for other major national publications. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion(Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).

Bobby Burchfield

Bobby R. Burchfield is a co-founder, with Karl Rove, of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, Inc., and currently serves as RITE’s Chairman. Before retiring from the practice of law in March 2021, after serving as a partner in three international law firms, Bobby was a trial and appellate  lawyer who tried cases before judges and juries and argued appeals throughout the United States. His cases addressed a broad  range of subjects  including antitrust, commercial  disputes, constitutional law,  election law, and class action issues. Bobby argued two important First Amendment cases

in the Supreme Court of the United States (McConnell v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC), as well as two dozen appeals in the lower courts. Over a 40-year career, Bobby never lost a jury trial. Among other recognitions, he was listed for many years in Best Lawyers in America, and Chambers Partners rated Bobby highly for Commercial Litigation and for Election Law. Bobby is an Adjunct Professor at George Washington Law School, teaching a seminar entitled “Fundamentals of Free Speech as Applied to Contemporary Issues.” He also serves on the Board of Trustees at Wake Forest University, is Vice President for Finance for the Executive Board of the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts (NCAC), is Chair of two Super PACs, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the George Washington Law School. A graduate of Wake Forest University (BA 1976 with distinction in Economics and Political Theory) and the George Washington Law School (1979 with high honors), where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Bobby clerked for the Hon. Ruggero J. Aldisert of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served as General Counsel of President George H.W. Bush’s Re-Election Campaign in 1992, by appointment of President George W. Bush on the Antitrust Advisory Commission (2005-07), and at the request of President Donald J. Trump as Ethics Advisor to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust (2017-2021).

Bobby Burchfield

Bobby R. Burchfield is a co-founder, with Karl Rove, of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, Inc., and currently serves as RITE’s Chairman. Before retiring from the practice of law in March 2021, after serving as a partner in three international law firms, Bobby was a trial and appellate  lawyer who tried cases before judges and juries and argued appeals throughout the United States. His cases addressed a broad  range of subjects  including antitrust, commercial  disputes, constitutional law,  election law, and class action issues. Bobby argued two important First Amendment cases

in the Supreme Court of the United States (McConnell v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC), as well as two dozen appeals in the lower courts. Over a 40-year career, Bobby never lost a jury trial. Among other recognitions, he was listed for many years in Best Lawyers in America, and Chambers Partners rated Bobby highly for Commercial Litigation and for Election Law. Bobby is an Adjunct Professor at George Washington Law School, teaching a seminar entitled “Fundamentals of Free Speech as Applied to Contemporary Issues.” He also serves on the Board of Trustees at Wake Forest University, is Vice President for Finance for the Executive Board of the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts (NCAC), is Chair of two Super PACs, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the George Washington Law School. A graduate of Wake Forest University (BA 1976 with distinction in Economics and Political Theory) and the George Washington Law School (1979 with high honors), where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Bobby clerked for the Hon. Ruggero J. Aldisert of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served as General Counsel of President George H.W. Bush’s Re-Election Campaign in 1992, by appointment of President George W. Bush on the Antitrust Advisory Commission (2005-07), and at the request of President Donald J. Trump as Ethics Advisor to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust (2017-2021).