Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro clocked Republican nominee Doug Mastriano in the Nov. 8 gubernatorial election, winning by at least 14.6 percentage points and more than 781,000 votes.

The notion that such a whipping resulted from mistakes or fraud is preposterous, yet Mastriano supporters — orchestrated online and using boilerplate legal claims rather than specific allegations of mistakes or wrongdoing — have flooded county courts statewide with hundreds of petitions seeking hand recounts.

Some courts already have dismissed such petitions for lack of legal merit. And even if some court were to discover legal merit, there is zero chance that a hand recount would reverse the landslide.

The petitions comport with Mastriano’s own unfounded assertions that Donald Trump won the 2020 Pennsylvania presidential election, which President Joe Biden won by 80,555 duly certified votes. A state senator from Franklin County, Mastriano introduced a resolution to reverse the state Department of State’s certification of those election results, and he was on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol when insurrectionists attempted to do so by force on Jan. 6, 2021.

It is easy, as it should be, to challenge election results in Pennsylvania. Three voters from any precinct who put up $50 can file a petition alleging fraud or error in the precinct, and seek a recount. The provision is a deterrent against fraud, and a means to ensure diligence.

But it’s also based on an expectation of good faith — that petitioners will use it when actual problems arise.

This orchestrated effort is misuse of the legal system, not to resolve actual problems but to perpetuate the big lie of rampant election fraud where none exists.

State law should empower courts to penalize such abuse, raising the stakes for those who would use the legal system for purely political purpose.

— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre via TNS