The Pennsylvania Democratic Party sued Erie County, Pennsylvania, on Monday, alleging that up to 20,000 voters have not received mail-in ballots with less than a week to go until Election Day.
Erie, a bellwether county in the battleground state, has received around 52% of the 38,000 mail-in ballots that were requested, according to the lawsuit, which added that Erie County is 15 percentage points behind the statewide average for mail-in ballots received, The New York Times reported. More than 500 voters in Erie have contacted a hotline set up by Democrats “because they either received an incorrect mail-in ballot or have yet to receive any mail-in ballot whatsoever,” the suit alleges.
The Erie County Board of Elections issued a statement on Tuesday, saying it was “acutely aware that many voters in Erie County have not received their requested mail ballots.” In response, the board is allowing voters who applied for a mail ballot and did not receive one to go to the county election office through Monday to obtain a ballot.
Earlier this month, nearly 300 voters in Erie County incorrectly received duplicate ballots, forcing the Board of Elections to contact them to ensure that they did not vote more than once, WPXI reported.
“The board has internal mechanisms in place to further ensure this does not occur. The board is committed to the integrity of the upcoming General Election and is confident that it has taken all steps necessary so that these duplicate ballots will not affect the outcome of the election in any way,” the board stated.
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Erie County, located in the northwest corner of the state, has a population of just under 270,000 people as of the 2022 U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate. In 2016, on his way to winning Pennsylvania and the presidency, former President Donald Trump won Erie by nearly 2,000 votes over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump lost Erie to President Joe Biden four years later by fewer than 1,500 votes. Biden also went on to win Pennsylvania in 2020.
On Wednesday, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee celebrated a legal win in Pennsylvania, which will extend “early in-person mail-voting through November 1st — three extra days,” according to RNC Chairman Michael Whatley. The Trump campaign sued Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after voters were allegedly turned away from early voting, which ended on October 29.
