BEDFORD, Pa. – A recent Bedford County Republican Party reorganization meeting during which the county’s former district attorney, Bill Higgins, was elected chairman of the county party has been declared invalid, null and void by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania.

The state party’s credentials committee found that the May 9 meeting was improperly scheduled and improperly held by presumptive committee members who had not yet been certified by the county board of elections.

The party ruled that “a valid BCRP Reorganization Meeting shall be conducted, and shall include full and equal participation by all BCRP Committee Members whose election to those positions have been certified by the (board of elections),” according to a document dated May 31 obtained by The Tribune- Democrat.

No date for a new reorganization meeting has been announced.

Presumptive Bedford County GOP committee members were elected during the April 23 primary election, in which all registered Republicans in the county could vote.

The reorganization meeting was held a little more than two weeks after the primary election. But Bedford County GOP bylaws call for a reorganization meeting to take place on the fourth Saturday after the primary, or the fifth Saturday if the fourth Saturday falls on a holiday.

The state party committee also found “confirmation that none of the presumptive BCRP Committee Members were certified at the time of the May 9 BCRP Reorganization Meeting” and that “Certificates of Election were issued by the BOE on May 17, 2024, for all presumptive BCRP Committee Members.”

“It all seemed pretty straightforward to us on the committee,” said Rick Rathfon, chairman of the state GOP’s credentials committee.

Rathfon described the reorganization meeting as “completely improper” and the decision to declare it invalid, null and void to be “a no-brainer.”

Four Bedford County residents – Karen Callihan, Christine Ebersole, Lisa Foor and Roger Foor – challenged the validity of the reorganization meeting. A videoconference hearing then was held with the involved parties.

“I wasn’t sure of the outcome,” Ebersole said. “I was glad that the state was able to hear the grievances or complaints about the meeting and that they did stand with the bylaws.”

Higgins did not comment in response to The Tribune- Democrat’s interview request.

Higgins received the most votes for Bedford County Republican Party chair at the May 9 reorganization meeting, with eight, compared to seven for Ebersole, who finished second.

But controversy surrounded that vote. At least half a dozen people who were the top vote-getters for committee spots in their respective precincts were not allowed to participate in the vote for chairman because they received fewer than 10 write-in votes in the primary.

They were asked to leave the meeting, a decision that Higgins supported.

“For the election that they had, they did not allow a number of people (to vote),” Rathfon said. “They told them they had to leave because they were not certified. Well, turns out none of them were certified. If none of them were certified, how can the election be legal and proper?”

The 10-vote threshold was used because it is the equivalent to the number of petition signatures needed for candidates to get their names on the ballot for county committee member.

Pennsylvania Election Code 25 P.S. § 3155 was used to support the action. It states that the secretary of the commonwealth “shall not certify the votes cast on irregular ballots” for “any party office … unless the total number of votes cast for said person is equal to or greater than the number of signatures required on a nomination petition for the particular office.”

But Section 2840 states that the positions are “filled by a vote of the party electors” and that candidates “who receive a plurality of the votes of the party electors at a primary” shall be the party officers, with no mention of a necessary threshold.

Higgins took the matter to the Bedford County Court of Common Pleas, where Bedford County President Judge Travis Livengood denied his petition. Livengood determined that certifying people who received less than 10 write-in votes complied with the commonwealth’s election code.