A judge in Pennsylvania extended an early voting deadline until Friday after former president Donald Trump’s campaign sued Bucks County over long lines and voting cut offs at election offices.
Bucks County Court Judge Jeffrey G. Trauger sided with the Republican nominee and gave residents of the southeast Pennsylvania county until the close of business on Friday to apply for a mail-in ballot. The court win comes after the former president complained about “cheating” elections officials on social media.
“Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before,” the Republican nominee for president posted on his platform Truth Social, before upping the ante with typical all-caps flair. “REPORT CHEATING TO AUTHORITIES. Law Enforcement must act, NOW!”
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Despite Trump’s bluster, the officials he was alluding to reportedly made sure everyone who showed up on time was able to obtain a ballot.
Unlike other states, Pennsylvania does not have a straight forward early voting process where citizens can show up and use a voting machine like they would on Election Day.
Instead, in order to cast their ballot early, they have to show up at an election office, request a mail ballot, fill it out, and submit it.
That led to confusion on Tuesday, the deadline for Pennsylvania voters to request a mail ballot. The Trump campaign and some voters reported election workers cutting off a line to immediately cast mail ballots around 2:30 p.m., arguing everyone already in the line by that point should be allowed to submit their vote that day, similar to how voting works on Election Day.
Pennsylvania law doesn’t specify whether someone in line to request a mail ballot by the 5 p.m. deadline should be allowed to cast the ballot on site that day.
So, while lines to cast ballots may have been cut off, Bucks County officials made sure to let anyone who was in line by the deadline request a mail ballot, ensuring they could cast their vote by post, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Undeterred by the efforts of local officials to offer voters who showed up on time a ballot, Republicans threw a fit and said they’ll be launching a legal challenge.
“I’m proud tonight to tell you that the Trump-Vance campaign has just filed a huge lawsuit against Bucks County for turning away our voters,” Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley told a Trump rally in Allentown Tuesday. “We are going to fight this thing in court, and all we ask of you is to stay in line. Donald Trump needs your votes.”
Last week, Bob Harvie, the Democratic vice chair of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners, told ABC News that the county has been sued 11 times since the 2020 election and that officials were already “bracing” for a repeat.
“If we’re doing everything the right way, and we’re documenting everything, then every lawsuit that comes our way—frivolous as it may be—will fail,” he told the broadcaster, noting that officials have been in touch with their lawyers for advice to make sure they’re keeping thorough records.
Bucks County, which sits north of Philadelphia and includes some city suburbs, is a hotly contested area between Trump and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. He lost the county by less than a percentage point in 2016 and by five percent in 2020.
