Pennsylvania’s top election official is expected to resign her position after her agency’s staff discovered a mistake that will block voters from deciding this spring whether to allow survivors of decades-old sexual abuse to sue the perpetrators, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The Department of State did not advertise, as required, a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would open a two-year window for litigation by survivors of child sexual abuse who have aged out of the statute of limitations for suing. Kathy Boockvar has led the agency since 2019, and oversaw a tense and difficult presidential election in a battleground state last year.
The change was a key recommendation in a blistering 2018 report by a statewide grand jury that investigated the coverup of decades of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. It is backed by the state’s community of survivors, who have been pushing for the change for nearly two decades.
The mistake means that the earliest voters can decide whether to create a two-year window is spring of 2023.