In ancient Rome and Greece, aristocrats who made irreversible blunders or committed serious ethical or moral lapses would fall on their swords or drink hemlock.

A figurative modern version of “the buck stops here” played out last week with the announcement that Kathy Boockvar, 52, the embattled Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth, who was at the center of the contentious 2020 election, is resigning.

She and Gov. Tom Wolf, both Democrats, made sure to emphasize, however, that her decision has nothing to do with the election. Instead, Boockvar’s department made the incredible and unbelievable omission of failing to advertise a proposed constitutional amendment in 2020 that would allow victims of child abuse a two-year window to bring legal action despite the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The result is that the process, begun in 2019, must now start over. Instead of the amendment coming before the voters during the May 18 primary, it won’t show up until the 2023 primary at the earliest.

Of course, after the horse has left the barn, Wolf announced new controls, including additional tracking and notifications of constitutional amendments to make sure that this does not happen again. Wolf has also asked the state Inspector General’s office to make additional recommendations.

Wolf acknowledged the frustration that these victims are now experiencing. “The delay caused by this human error will be heartbreaking for thousands of survivors of childhood sexual assault, … and I join the Department of State in apologizing to you,” Wolf said. “I share your anger and frustration that this happened, and I stand with you in your fight for justice.”

The proposed amendment is a major response to the child sexual abuse scandal involving Catholic Church clergy. It was first passed by the General Assembly as House Bill 963 in November 2019. The Department of State was required to advertise the proposed constitutional amendment in two newspapers in every county in each of the three months before the next general election when members of the General Assembly are elected, or, in other words, before the 2020 General Election.

Proposed constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly, after which the proposal is decided by the voters in a statewide referendum.

The General Assembly was set to begin the process for second passage last week when the error was discovered.

Although the slip-up rests with Boockvar’s staff, as the department head she bears the brunt of the fallout. To her credit, once the error was discovered, she immediately contacted the governor’s office to make him aware of it and tendered her resignation, which he accepted.

Of course, this episode will be spun in various ways, especially by those who have been calling for Boockvar’s head since the many controversies which arose surrounding the Pennsylvania presidential election and its outcome that saw President Joe Biden capture Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes en route to preventing former President Donald Trump from securing a second term.

A number of Republican-sponsored hearings are underway to slice and dice the 2020 election to determine whether changes should be made, especially in the way mail-in balloting is handled. This was the major bone of contention among Republicans last year, despite their initial approval of the change.

Republicans charged that Boockvar made some midstream changes and decisions which were beyond her job description, and they questioned whether this could have cost Trump the election in Pennsylvania.

Voting officials of both parties, along with lawsuits confirming the results and certification by both the Republican-leaning General Assembly and Democrat Wolf said that it did not change the outcome.

Despite this, eight of the nine Republican members of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation, including Rep. Dan Meuser, whose district includes Carbon and Schuylkill counties, unsuccessfully challenged the congressional certification on Jan. 6, even after riotous insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, forcing legislators to seek shelter from the mob.

Wolf appointed Veronica Degraffenreid to serve as acting secretary of the commonwealth. She has served as the department’s special adviser on election modernization and has had more than 12 years of experience in election administration in North Carolina.

Boockvar lives in Washington Crossing, Bucks County, and worked for several years in the 1990s with legal services in Bethlehem. She unsuccessfully ran for public office twice in back-to-back years - for Commonwealth Court in 2011 and for Congress in 2012.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com