Up to 17,000 Pennsylvanians Who Haven’t Received Mail-in Ballots Permitted to Vote Early in Person
An Erie County, Pennsylvania judge ruled that up to 17,000 voters who still haven’t received their requested mail-in ballots will be able to vote early in person at the county board of elections office starting today through Monday, Nov. 4.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party — which sued the county board on Wednesday — secured an emergency injunction this afternoon after alleging that somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 voters who requested mail-in ballots still haven’t received them.
Affected voters may cancel their mail-in ballot requests and cast a ballot in person at the Erie County Courthouse during the following dates and extended operating hours:
- Friday, Nov. 1: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 2: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 3: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Monday, Nov. 4: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The judge also gave the Erie County Board of Elections permission to utilize a company that provides overnight delivery services to send a replacement mail-in ballot to any out-of-state voter who requested a mail-in ballot, but hasn’t yet received one.
According to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s lawsuit, the county approved 40,844 mail-in applications as of Oct. 28, but only 21,536 have been returned — a return rate of 52%, which is 15 percentage points under the state’s average return rate of 67%.
The party’s complaint said that postal delays and issues with a third-party vendor contracted by the county board to distribute mail-in ballots resulted in a series of issues with mail-in ballots for the upcoming election.
“Primarily due to the failures of the Vendor, there have been administrative challenges necessitating this Court to order and grant the relief herein,” Friday’s order reads.
The lawsuit further maintained that the U.S. Postal Service has been unable to account for approximately 1,800 mail-in ballots and that more than 300 voters received two mail-in ballots — one of which may not have corresponded to the local race for which a particular voter is eligible to vote.
As to those duplicate ballots, the judge held that the county board must contact all voters who received two ballots and allow them the chance to cancel their previous ballot cast in their name and submit a new one. If a voter doesn’t opt to submit a new ballot, the board — alongside representatives from the state Democratic and Republican parties — will verify that the correct ballot is counted.
Finally, today’s ruling stipulates that all polling places throughout the county must have available an adequate number of ballots and provisional ballots to account for potentially higher numbers of in-person voters turning out on Election Day.
Learn more about the case here.
Original post, Oct. 30
Between 10,000 and 20,000 voters in Erie County, Pennsylvania still haven’t received their mail-in ballots, according to a new lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, says that 40,844 mail-in ballot applications were approved in Erie County but, as of Oct. 28, only 21,536 ballots have been returned — a return rate of 52%, which is 15 percentage points under the state’s average return rate of 67%. Because of this, the plaintiffs alleged that up to 20,000 mail-in ballots requested by Erie County voters were never delivered.
Tens of thousands of voters could be disenfranchised if this is not properly resolved before Election Day.
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The lawsuit also alleges that more than 300 voters received two mail-in ballots, one of which may not correlate to the local races those voters are eligible to vote for. The plaintiffs also allege that the U.S. Postal Service has no record of having received 1,800 mail-in ballots from the third-party vendor that the Erie Board of Elections contracted to distribute mail-in ballots. The lawsuit says the vendor is still “in the process of trying to locate” the lost ballots. Under state law, mail-in ballots are required to be delivered to voters who requested them at least two weeks prior to the election.
“These Vendor issues have caused registered voters substantial delays and hardships in casting ballots in the 2024 Election, potentially violating the right to vote of numerous electors,” the lawsuit reads. “With election day one week away, the BOE has not yet properly addressed these issues, and these issues threaten to disenfranchise thousands of registered voters from casting ballots in the 2024 Election.”
The plaintiffs are asking the court to force the Board of Elections to fix the error by releasing the names of all the voters who might have been affected, to allow those voters to cancel their mail-in ballot status and cast a ballot at an in-person polling place.