Voters in Pennsylvania counties courted by Harris, Trump have one more day to request mail-in ballots

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – Voters in a suburban Philadelphia county heavily courted by presidential candidates had their last chance Friday to apply for a the postal ballotas one free county in the state gave voters who didn’t receive a mail-in ballot another chance to get one.

A judge in Erie County, in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, ruled Friday in a lawsuit brought by the Democratic Party that the estimated 15,000 people who requested but did not receive a mail-in ballot can go to the election office in the county and I can get a replacement.

The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot has passed in Pennsylvania, the largest and wealthiest presidential battleground state this year and by far the most visited by Republicans. Donald Trump and democrat Kamala Harris.

But now the Erie County elections office will be open every day through Monday for voters to come in, cancel the mail-in ballot they didn’t receive in the mail and get another one at the counter, Cliff said Levine, attorney for the state Democratic Party.

In the Bucks County suburbs of Philadelphia, a court set a 5 p.m. deadline for voters there to request and receive a mail-in ballot.

About 100 people were in line as of 4 p.m. at the county elections office in Doylestown and reported the process taking about two hours.

The deadline is a three-day extension granted in response to a Trump campaign lawsuit that alleges voters faced disenfranchisement when they were turned away by county processing offices that had were closed.

Deadlines and office closures led to long queues and confusion among some voters, who believed that, just like at polling stations on Election Day, they had the right to vote if they were in line by the time the polls closed. But county election offices are not official polls, and officials have posted closing times as early as 2 p.m. on weekends.

Trump’s campaign lawsuit said people who were in line by Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline to apply in person for a mail-in ballot should have been allowed to get one. vote, even after the deadline. However, the Bucks County elections office denied the voters that right and ordered them to leave, the lawsuit states.

Bucks County Judge Jeffrey Trauger ruled the Board of Elections violated state election code and ordered an extension until Friday.

Unlike other states, Pennsylvania does not have true in-person early voting. Voters can apply in advance for mail-in ballots online or in person at county election buildings.

Doing so in person can take about 12 minutes and requires applying for a mail-in ballot, waiting for a barcoded envelope to be printed, and then, if voters want, voting on-site. Or I can put it in a drop box or mailbox. Electoral offices must receive the ballots by Tuesday at 8 p.m.; a postmark by that time is not enough, according to the state.

No-excuse mail-in voting is relatively new in Pennsylvania. The Legislature passed an expansion of the practice in 2019. In 2020, Trump — without any evidence to back up the claim — said mail-in voting was rife with fraud, which discouraged many Republicans from voting by mail. That changed this year, with Trump and billionaire business mogul Elon Musk supporting the practice and urging supporters to vote early by mail.

Pennsylvania went for Trump in 2016 before switching to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Bucks County supported Democrat Hillary Clinton by a single point in 2016 before Biden widened the Democratic lead to five points in 2020.

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Associated Press reporter Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.