A state judge in Pennsylvania has found that a mail-ballot vendor contracted by the Erie County Board of Elections failed to meet demand and that 13,000 to 17,000 Erie County voters may not have received their ballots in time for the election on Tuesday.
The judge, David Ridge, ordered the Board of Elections to keep its offices open on Friday and Saturday, for voters to be able to request and fill out ballots, and to add a printer. Citing a shortfall of extra ballots and provisional ballots, the judge instructed the board to “ensure that an adequate number” of ballots was available at all polling locations in the county.
In addition to the thousands of voters who might not have received ballots, the judge also found that about 1,200 out-of-state voters who are registered to vote in Erie County might not have received mail ballots. And given what the judge described as an “unknown number” of people who might not have been accounted for, he raised the likelihood that upward of 20,000 ballots could have failed to reach voters.
The court’s estimate, if correct, would represent roughly 15 percent of the county’s 2020 turnout, a significant portion in a state that current polling shows to be extremely close.
Erie County is one of the swingiest counties in Pennsylvania and is often considered a bellwether in a critical battleground state. In 2016, former President Donald J. Trump won the county by about 1,950 votes. In 2020, President Biden carried Erie County by around 1,400 votes.
The issues were revealed in a lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party on Wednesday. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania quickly joined the lawsuit, also expressing concern about how the county was addressing the missing mail-in ballots.
On Tuesday, before the lawsuit was filed, the Erie County Board of Elections said in a statement that it was “acutely aware that many voters in Erie County have not received their requested mail ballots.”
Judge Ridge oversaw a hearing on the matter on Thursday. He wrote in his ruling on Friday that the 13,000 to 17,000 ballots could not be accounted for by the vendor, the county or the U.S. Postal Service.
Clifford Levine, a lawyer for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said in an interview that he was satisfied with the ruling, which gives a vast majority of the affected voters several ways to complete and process their ballots. Both the county and the vendor were taking steps to address the issues, he said.
“Obviously, there’s a little bit of last minute here,” he said. “We are concerned about some of the out-of-state and out-of-town voters, because this remedy might not benefit them.”
A spokeswoman for Pennsylvania’s secretary of state said in a statement, “We are committed to supporting the county’s elections officials as they work hard over the days ahead to enable affected voters to cast their ballot in the Nov. 5 election.”
A spokesman for the county and lawyers for the state Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment.
Affected voters have a few options, according to Mr. Levine. Those who never received a ballot can go to the county courthouse, cancel the original ballot request, complete a new one and vote in person. Those who cannot make it to the courthouse can cast a provisional ballot on Election Day and expect it to count — the county will determine that no mail ballot was cast.
Those who receive their ballot in the coming days can return it to a drop box at the county courthouse, or bring the ballot to their local precinct on Election Day, turn it over to the judge of elections and vote in person on a machine.
The post Judge Finds Pennsylvania County Short of Ballots and Extends Early-Voting Hours appeared first on New York Times.
