The Donald Trump Campaign and the Pennsylvania GOP won a huge victory today in their efforts to force the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, government to permit voters to request mail-in ballots in person.
The campaign filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, documenting how county officials broke state law and turned away voters hours before the deadline (see Trump Campaign Suing Over Voter Suppression in Major Swing State). This was after video surfaced of a police officer and skeevy individuals, some later identified as local Democrat activists, wearing “Voter Protection” badges but with no visible identification credentials shutting down the line at 1:45 p.m. when the law required the line to stay open to 4:30 p.m.
The lawsuit, filed in Common Pleas Court, maintains county officials ignored guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of State that anyone in those lines by 5 p.m. Tuesday — the deadline for requesting a mail ballot — should have been able to file their request.
Instead, the suit alleges, voters were repeatedly turned away — in some cases as early as 2:30 p.m. — as queues grew so long outside the county’s administration building and satellite election offices that it would take staff the rest of the office’s hours of operations to work through them.
“Instead of complying with the letter and spirit of the Election Code, as well as the directive from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the board ordered security officials to remove some voters … some of whom had been standing in line for hours only to be turned away,” wrote Wally S. Zimolong, a GOP election lawyer representing the campaign in their suit.
A county judge has extended the deadline by three days to make up for the premature closure of lines.
A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday sided with Donald Trump’s campaign and agreed to extend an in-person voting option in suburban Philadelphia where long lines on the final day led to complaints voters were being disenfranchised by an unprepared election office.
Judge Jeffrey Trauger said in a one-page order that Bucks County voters who want to apply for an early mail ballot now have until Friday.
The Trump campaign’s lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday morning, comes amid a flurry of litigation and complaints over voting in a battleground state that is expected to play a central role in helping select the next president in 2024’s election.
The lawsuit sought a one-day extension, through Wednesday at 5 p.m., for voters to apply in-person for a mail-in ballot. The judge’s order permits applications through the close of business on Friday.
There is no indication of any interest on the part of the State of Pennsylvania in why a uniformed police officer and seemingly unauthorized persons countermanded Governor Josh Shapiro’s instructions and state law.
This is the second case in Pennsylvania where early voting has been obstructed, and the courts have stepped in to extend voting deadlines.
