Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar on Monday was forced to resign after failing to disclose a proposed state constitutional amendment.
Boockvar, who earned nationally prominence amid a series of court fights over election integrity, did not properly advertise an amendment that would allow survivors of decades-old sexual abuse to sue perpetrators beyond the statute of limitations. Boockvar’s staff discovered the error, which was first reported by Pennsylvania investigative outlet Spotlight PA.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Boockvar’s departure and said that her ouster had “nothing to do with the administration of the 2020 election,” in which Boockvar incurred national controversy for the expanded use of mail-in ballots. Wolf blasted Boockvar for forcing “heartbreaking” consequences on survivors of sexual assault, many of whom will have to wait until at least 2023 to file lawsuits.
“I join the Department of State in apologizing to you,” Wolf said to victims. “I share your anger and frustration that this happened, and I stand with you in your fight for justice.”
Under Pennsylvania law, the Department of State must disclose proposed constitutional amendments once they are approved. The department failed to do this during the state legislature’s 2019-2020 session. The amendment was proposed in response to a 2018 grand jury report on decades of abuse perpetrated by priests in the Catholic Church.
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who led the investigation that produced the report, called Boockvar’s oversight “shameful.”
“All options must be on the table to fix this immediately,” Shapiro said.
Boockvar took responsibility for the mistake in a statement released Monday afternoon.
“I’ve always believed that accountability and leadership must be a cornerstone of public service,” she said. “While I only became aware of the mistake last week and immediately took steps to alert the administration to the error, I accept the responsibility on behalf of the department.”
Pennsylvania Republicans laid into Boockvar after Wolf announced her resignation, with many linking the incident to a history of animosity between her office and the state GOP.
“I have been saying for a long time that Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar’s ineptness has been detrimental to Pennsylvania,” said state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman. “This is just one in a series of disasters throughout her tenure. This time, Secretary Boockvar has failed the survivors of child sex abuse and disregarded the will of the people. At best, this was incompetence. At worst, this was malfeasance.”
Boockvar has faced accusations of unprofessionalism before. In 2020, as she battled then-President Donald Trump’s election challenges, her old tweets about Trump resurfaced, leading many to question her neutrality in the presidential election.
State Republicans have appealed several cases against Boockvar to the Supreme Court.
