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

Jasper Ward

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

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

In the lawsuit, the party said the failure resulted in “significant delays and difficulties in casting votes” and potentially violated 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 is the biggest prize among battleground states and is considered a must-win by both Democrats and Republicans.

Erie County is widely known as one of the most contentious counties in the state.

Judge David Ridge, who serves on the Erie County Court of Common Pleas, ordered the election board 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 of the county’s temporary out-of-state voters had not received their ballots.

In his ruling, Ridge said it was determined that at least 365 duplicate ballots were sent to voters that included a ballot with a bar code that matched another voter. As a result, he ordered that voters be given the opportunity to void 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 they could to give people the opportunity to vote, despite the shortcomings of the county contractor, which was just terrible,” said Timothy McNair, an attorney for the state Democratic Party, according to WJET-TV.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris are neck and neck in Pennsylvania ahead of Tuesday’s election.

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

In Erie County, where there are 177,000 registered voters, more than 25,000 voters cast ballots.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Leslie Adler)