More than 4,000 mail ballot applications have been disputed in 14 Pennsylvania counties, forcing election officials to evaluate voter eligibility during hearings that will last far after Election Day.
According to state election officials, the “mass challenges” targeted two distinct groups: those who may have transferred their mail without altering their voter registration, and nonmilitary US voters residing overseas. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act only allows overseas voters to vote for president and congressional seats.
The state set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Friday for anyone to challenge mail-in ballot applications; any ballots from voters whose applications were contested must be sequestered until the county elections board officials convene a hearing to resolve the claims. The hearings must be held no later than Friday, three days following Election Day.
Pennsylvania is a vital swing state that might decide the campaign between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican opponent Donald Trump, which is extremely close on Election Day. If the margin is close, the 4,300 postal ballots in question could be enough to decide who wins the state and its 19 electoral votes.
The move follows a federal judge’s decision last week to dismiss a lawsuit filed by six Republican members of Congress trying to require Pennsylvania election officials to implement new checks confirming military and foreign voters’ eligibility and identification.
The first county elections board hearing, held Friday in suburban Philadelphia’s Chester County, resulted in the rejection of all challenges to mail ballot applications, including accusations that persons had moved and should have altered where they voted.
“The scary part was that they had sent this letter with a voter registration cancelation form and claimed they got 2,300 voters to cancel voter registration” in Pennsylvania, said Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell, a Democrat, on Monday.
The challenges cost $10 per voter, and it’s unclear who submitted each one. Diane Houser, a Trump supporter, submitted them in Chester County, claiming that they were nonpartisan and originated from a grassroots network.
Lycoming County will have a hearing Friday on the 72 challenges filed by Karen DiSalvo, a lawyer for PA Fair Elections, a conservative nonprofit that has spurred right-wing attacks on voting practices. DiSalvo stated that she took up the difficulties in her private capacity rather than as a member of any organization.
“The challenges submitted merely state that county election officials must properly handle the voter registration applications that they now hold for these individuals. The voters do not need to do anything; they have all received their ballots. “To resolve the eligibility issues raised in the challenges, county officials must properly register the applicants,” DiSalvo wrote in an email.
In York County, the elections board denied all 354 challenges on Monday, but chief clerk Greg Monskie said the board agreed to keep those votes segregated during the appeals process.
The Pennsylvania Department of State, which regulates elections, reported that by Saturday, there were approximately 3,700 challenges to mail ballot applications by foreign voters pending in ten counties. There were also 363 voter challenges ongoing in four counties due to alleged address changes, in addition to the 212 in Chester County that were rejected or withdrawn in that category.
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According to Eric Roe, Chester’s Republican commissioner, those who were challenged included active-duty military members, college students, and persons who traveled outside of Pennsylvania for medical treatment.
“That is alarming to me that someone takes up such an approach to disenfranchise legitimate Pennsylvania voters,” Roe told the crowd. “And I can’t think of anything less American than that.”
According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, filling out a change-of-address form does not necessarily imply that a voter has permanently moved out of the state; these forms can also be used to have mail forwarded.
According to Tim Germani, director of voter and elections services in Lawrence County, 52 objections are being assessed, most of which appear to be related to overseas postal ballot requests. The electoral board may be required to hold a hearing by Friday, he said.
In suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County, where over 1,300 challenges were submitted, the majority of which were filed by Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, officials attempted to notify voters on Monday of a hearing slated for early Thursday. Until then, Bucks County spokesman Jim O’Malley stated that their votes will be counted separately.
“We are doing our best to provide notice to those voters today, and that notice will include information about how to contact the Board of Elections,” O’Malley said in a phone interview on Monday.