(Capital-Star photo)
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is seeking a preliminary injunction against the Erie County Board of Elections over problems with mail ballots that it alleges could be affecting up to 20,000 voters.
The issues in Erie began with an Ohio-based third-party vendor, ElectionIQ, that the county contracts with to print and mail its mail ballots, given the volume of requests for mail ballots the county has received for the upcoming election. A voter notified the Erie elections board and the county Voter Registration Office on Oct. 18 that they had received two mail ballots, one with their correct information and a second with a different voter’s name and address on the return envelope.
A software failure caused ElectionIQ to send duplicate ballots that went into incorrect envelopes. The county estimated that about 300 people received duplicate or incorrect ballots, and the U.S. Postal Service has “been unable to account for,” another 1,800 mail ballots, according to the lawsuit, which the county says were never mailed by ElectionIQ.
The state Democratic Party claims in its filing that it “has been made aware by its registered party members of numerous instances where a voter requested a mail-in ballot weeks ago but has still not received their ballot.”
Mail ballot returns in Erie are below the statewide average, the suit claims, with only 21,536 of 40,844 of voters who requested mail ballots – about 52% — receiving them by Oct. 28. That’s a difference of 19,308 voters. Statewide, the return number is at 67%, with Erie’s return rate among the lowest in the commonwealth, the suit claims.
The party’s lawsuit seeks to compel the board of elections to release the names of all the voters who received incorrect ballots or have not received their ballots, ensure that they are notified. and to have extended hours at the board of elections through Nov. 4, the day before Election Day.
The suit is also asking the county to allow observers to compare the ballots received after Nov. 1 to confirm the voter is eligible. The lawsuit is seeking to have blank “Cancel my Ballot Request” forms available in each polling district through Election Day, so that if someone does not receive their ballot in time, they can cancel their mail ballot request and vote in person.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not immediately reply to a request for comment Wednesday.
The board of elections also could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. But in a statement on its website, the board said it was “acutely aware that many voters in Erie County have not received their requested mail ballots. The Board has been working diligently with the Voter Registration Department, the Pennsylvania Department of State, and the United States Post Office to determine the origin and scope of this matter.”
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The county extended the hours of operation for the voter registration and election departments. Anyone who had applied for a mail ballot by the Oct. 29 deadline who had not received one will be able to visit the BOE office to cancel their mail ballot and receive a new one until 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 4., the day before the election. The voter registration office will be open extended hours through Nov. 3.
Sam Talarico, chairperson of the Erie County Democrats, said Wednesday he had not seen the lawsuit, but he’s been getting calls from voters seeking instructions. “We’ve told them they need to go down to the courthouse and cancel their ballot, and then they can vote right at the courthouse,” he said.
That applies to people who have already registered to vote and who requested a mail ballot. The statewide deadline to apply for a mail ballot was Tuesday at 5 p.m. (with a few exceptions). “And we’ve even, we’re even been providing riders to some people to get to the courthouse, and a few people that we had pick up the ballots. They have to sign a designated agent form. So we’re just doing what we can to make sure that everybody votes.”
Erie is widely viewed as a key piece of the Pennsylvania electoral puzzle, the bellwether of the must-win battleground state. Former President Donald Trump held one of his first 2024 campaign rallies in Erie back in July 2023, and his running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, spoke in Erie last week. Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Erie County in 2016 by just over 1,900 votes, a crushing loss for Democrats as the state flipped red. Clinton did not make campaign appearances in Erie during her presidential run.
Democrats appeared to learn from their 2016 defeat; Joe Biden beat Trump in Erie in the 2020 election by a margin of just over 1,400 votes, or 1.03%, as Pennsylvania flipped blue again.
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