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An appeals court ruled Wednesday that Republican Bruce Marks, a University alumnus, must prove that the number of absentee ballots cast illegally in a State Senate special election last November affected the outcome of the election. Then, U.S. District Judge Clarence Newcomer will declare whether Marks can be certified as the winner of the controversial State Senate election to fill the Second District Northeast Philadelphia seat after a hearing set for March 28. "Marks should not be certified unless and until the district court is satisfied that Marks would have won the election [if not] for the wrong doing," wrote Judge Walter Stapleton of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel ruled that if enough illegal ballots are found, Newcomer may order Marks declared the winner. Otherwise, the panel wrote, Newcomer should call a new election. Although Marks has argued that a new election would not be fair to him, since it would be his third election campaign in one year, the judges ruled that the more important issue concerns the power of the voters to choose a candidate. Mark's opponent in last November's election, William Stinson, appealed Newcomer's initial Feb. 18 ruling, in which the judge declared all absentee ballots in the election invalid and ordered that Marks be certified as state senator. Last week, the appeals court stayed Newcomer's decision, stating that Marks should not be sworn in as senator while the court reviews the charges against Stinson. In its most recent ruling, the court rejected Stinson's appeal, defending Newcomer's opinion that extensive ballot fraud did occur in the Second District election. Marks was confident last night that he could prove enough absentee ballots were filed illegally, and claimed to have testimony from 1,000 voters. "It's important to show how the Democrats, fortunately unsuccessfully, tried to steal the election," Marks said. Last Saturday, Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr. formally charged Stinson and two of his campaign workers with electoral abuses, after a grand jury indicted the workers. Stinson was charged with opening and counting absentee ballots at his neighborhood poll station in Northeast Philadelphia, as well as locking and unlocking the voting machines. Both are misdemeanors under state law. Because Marks received 1,025 fewer absentee ballots than Stinson on the Nov. 2 election, he lost by 461 votes. Marks won the ballot machine vote by 564 votes. The Philadelphia Inquirer contributed to this article.

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