Brian Fitzpatrick

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The county says there is no basis in election code for Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia’s removal from the board.

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U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Bucks County, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to block Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia from serving on the election board.

The petition, filed in the county’s Court of Common Pleas, comes less than a week before Election Day and amid a closely contested race between Fitzpatrick and Democratic Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie to represent Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.

Fitzpatrick alleges in the complaint that Ellis-Marseglia’s public support for Harvie’s campaign and comments she made regarding a disputed vote in 2024 to count undated or misdated ballots, among other actions, represent a “clear conflict of interest.” Her participation on the election board “creates an irreconcilable appearance of impropriety and a violation of due process,” the lawsuit reads.

Prior to filing the petition, Fitzpatrick sent a letter through his attorney earlier in the week requesting that Ellis-Marseglia recuse herself from the election board.

The request has no basis in election code, County Solicitor Dan Grieser wrote in a letter Wednesday directed to Fitzpatrick’s counsel Geoffrey R. Johnson. The only time a commissioner can be displaced from the board is when that commissioner is a candidate for nomination or election to any public office, per the solicitor.

“No provision of the Election Code authorizes removal or disqualification of a commissioner from the board for partisan conduct,” the letter reads.

Since being sworn in as a commissioner nearly two decades ago, Ellis-Marseglia has served on the election board for 15 general elections, and recused herself in years when she was on the ballot.

Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, has voted to certify the elections of Fitzpatrick five times, among other Republican victories, the solicitor noted.

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The complaint acknowledges the precedent that commissioners often endorse candidates in the election, including former Republican Commissioner Rob Loughery, who supported Fitzpatrick while serving on the election board.

But the lawsuit alleges that Ellis-Marseglia has displayed “ultra-level political activism which evinces an extreme partisan bias.” The petition cites surveillance video footage of Ellis-Marseglia allegedly removing copies of the Bucks County Herald featuring a large ad criticizing Harvie from the lobby of the Bucks County Administration Building.

The petition also includes evidence that Fitzpatrick’s counsel alleges shows Ellis-Marseglia placing Harvie campaign signs directly in front of Fitzpatrick campaign signs, and holding a sign that said “Fire Fitz” at a recent Harvie campaign rally.

A hearing in the case has been scheduled for the case for 9 a.m. Monday.

The filing is the latest litigious development in what polls show could be a tight race.

This summer, attorneys representing Harvie sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fitzpatrick and filed a lawsuit, alleging defamation in ads that Harvie’s attorneys say misportray the Democratic candidate’s role in a federal investigation.

“It is deeply unfortunate that Brian Fitzpatrick is now following in the footsteps of Donald Trump by trying to sow doubt in the administration of an election because he is afraid of losing,” Harvie said in a statement to WHYY News on Friday. “After a decade in Washington, Fitzpatrick has changed and this is just another example.”

In a statement, the Fitzpatrick campaign said it filed the suit “because the voters of Bucks County deserve to have fair elections overseen by fair and impartial judges and not by someone who engages in the partisan campaign mischief that makes us all cringe and shake our heads in disbelief.”

The campaign highlighted Ellis-Marseglia’s comments in the 2024 election. She incited backlash when she suggested she would violate a state Supreme Court ruling regarding counting misdated or undated mail ballots so a court would “pay attention to it.”

Ellis-Marseglia later apologized for the remarks and said they were taken out of context, and that she was referring to undated or misdated provisional ballots, not mail ballots.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks County, chair of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, said in a statement Friday that Fitzpatrick “has chosen to debase himself by running one of the most disgraceful campaigns in Bucks County history.”

“Taking a page from the Trump playbook, and knowing that he is likely to lose, he now seeks to lay the foundation for a post-election attempt to question the legitimacy of the result by assailing Commissioner Marseglia’s integrity as a member of the Board of Elections,” he continued. “I have no doubt that the court will brush aside this frivolous suit. I look forward to Bob Harvie’s election to Congress on November 3rd.”

In a statement Friday, Bucks County Republican Committee Chairman Ted Christian said that voters “deserve full confidence that our elections are being administered without bias.”

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