Pennsylvania’s early voting system faced significant stress as the number of those attempting to vote before Election Day overwhelmed board of elections employees in several counties.
In an onerous process that is relatively new to election workers and voters, a ballot can be requested in person via form, the form is verified, and a ballot, including an outer and inner envelope, is printed for the voter. The ballot can then be completed in person, or the voter can take the ballot home, fill it out, and return it via mail or drop box.
This lengthy procedure can take at best 12 minutes per voter, “if everything goes right” according to the Associated Press. Bucks County officials contend changes need to be made to the cumbersome system.
The situation in Bucks County, long lines on what was supposed to be the last day of early voting, led to the Trump campaign filing a lawsuit demanding that the voting center remain open. The judge assigned to the case agreed, forcing the county election employees to accommodate those who were in line but hadn’t yet gotten the opportunity to cast their ballot. The order states early in-person mail voting will be permitted through Friday.
Previously, some voters in Bucks County who wished to cast their ballot early were turned away from the Doylestown office two hours before the board of elections was scheduled to close. The early closure resulted in a rebuke from Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and a group of Republican statehouse members, saying the “incident has sent shockwaves throughout our community and is causing individuals to lose faith in our electoral system.”
In Erie County, a number of voters who requested their ballot to be delivered via mail had yet to receive it, despite the early-vote deadline approaching. In response, the county’s board of elections updated and expanded its hours to provide those who requested but not yet received their ballot the opportunity to cancel their previous ballot and request a new one.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party filed a lawsuit saying the large number of voters still waiting for their ballot requires action. The lawsuit asked the judge to “to order various steps to ensure affected voters can still cast a valid ballot and to provide a list of those who have been impacted.”
Early voting is not the only controversy election officials in the Keystone State are dealing with. After a large number of fraudulent voter registrations were discovered, officials segregated the documents and police began investigating. The Lancaster County District Attorney said recently the fraudulent applications were “connected to large-scale canvassing operations for voter registrations” in June.
As of October 29th, twice as many Democrats in the state have returned mail-in ballots as Republicans.
