Judge orders Pennsylvania county to issue ballots to voters who didn’t receive them

By Jasper Ward

(Reuters) – A Pennsylvania judge on Friday ordered the Erie County Board of Elections to issue ballots to up to 17,000 voters who did not receive their requested mail-in ballots before the Nov. 5 election.

The state Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the county board of elections on Wednesday, challenging its failure to send between 10,000 and 20,000 requested mail-in ballots.

In the lawsuit, the party said the failure led to “substantial delays and difficulties in submitting ballots” and could infringe on the voting rights of many voters.

Pennsylvania is one of seven swing states that will likely determine who wins the presidential election. With 19 Electoral College votes, it’s the biggest prize among the battleground states, and both Democrats and Republicans see it as a must-win.

Erie County is widely seen as one of the most contested counties in the state.

Erie County Common Pleas Court Judge David Ridge ordered the board of elections to extend early voting until Nov. 4.

He authorized the board to hire an overnight delivery company to mail replacement ballots after it was determined that about 1,200 county voters who temporarily live out of state had not received their ballots. vote.

Ridge said in his ruling that it was determined that at least 365 duplicate ballots were sent to voters that contained a ballot with a barcode corresponding to another voter. As a result, he ordered that voters be given the opportunity to cancel previous ballots cast on their behalf by submitting a new one.

Neither the Pennsylvania Democratic Party nor the Erie Board of Elections responded to requests for comment.

“I think everyone worked together and did everything we could to allow people to vote despite the failures of the county contractor, which was just appalling,” said Timothy McNair, attorney for the state Democratic Party. , according to WJET-TV.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic rival Kamala Harris are going head-to-head in Pennsylvania ahead of Tuesday’s election.

More than 1.6 million voters have already cast their ballots in Pennsylvania, according to a state report.

More than 25,000 voters cast ballots in Erie County, which has 177,000 registered voters.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Leslie Adler)