Trump campaign sues Bucks County, Pennsylvania Board of Elections, claiming it ‘discarded voters’

BUKS COUNTY, PA – Donald Trump’s campaign filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania on Wednesday in hopes of briefly extending in-person voting in one suburban Philadelphia precinct where long lines on the final day sparked complaints that voters were disenfranchised by an unprepared elections office.

The lawsuit filed in densely populated Bucks County follows a flurry of lawsuits and complaints about voting in a battleground state that is expected to play a key role in electing the next president in the 2024 election.

The lawsuit requested an extension of one day – until Wednesday at 5 p.m. – for voters to submit applications for a mail-in ballot in person.

Neighboring Lehigh County asked a judge on Tuesday to extend the deadline by one day, to Wednesday, because road closures in downtown Allentown near the Trump rally prevent access to the elections office. The judge agreed.

In Bucks County, the Trump campaign’s lawsuit argues that people who lined up to request an absentee ballot in person before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. should be able to receive a ballot even after the deadline. However, the Bucks County elections office denied voters that right and ordered them to leave, according to the lawsuit.

“This is a direct violation of the rights of Pennsylvanians to cast a ballot, and all voters have the right to STAND IN LINE,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.

The Republican National Committee and the campaign of Republican Senate candidate David McCormick have joined the lawsuit against Bucks County, where Democrats control government in a politically divided county often seen as a political bellwether.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has urged counties to allow any voter who gets in line before the 5 p.m. deadline to request an absentee ballot. In response to criticism and misinformation on social media Tuesday, Bucks County said any voter who is in line by 5 p.m. Tuesday will be able to apply for an absentee ballot.

Bucks County officials had no immediate comment Wednesday.

Pennsylvania does not allow early voting with voting machines at polling places, as some states do.

But Bucks County, like other counties in Pennsylvania, allows voters to request and receive an absentee ballot in person at an election office, a time-consuming process fraught with Trump’s exhortations to his supporters to leave the polling place. and vote before Tuesday’s deadline. Voters can also complete it and submit it to the office.

On Tuesday, voters waited as long as three hours. The lawsuit says people who were still waiting in line at 5 p.m. were ordered to go home.

In neighboring Lehigh County, a steady stream of voters took advantage of the one-day extension Wednesday and went to the basement of the Allentown voter registration office to apply for, fill out and return an absentee ballot. election workers explained the process as voters stepped off the elevator into the crowded hallway.

“There are great representatives here who tell everyone what to do and how to do it. Everything is running smoothly. “I’m excited to be here,” said Jeanne Birosik, a Republican Party voter, as she waited for election board workers to prepare her mail to balote.

Birosik usually votes on Election Day, but she said she showed up at her polling place in 2020 and was wrongly told she had already voted. She then filled out a provisional ballot, but she didn’t want to leave anything to chance in this election.

“It just seemed like a safer way,” she said.

Her husband, Chris Birosik, 62, who was also present to vote, said that weeks ago they had not considered leaving their ballots by mail – he thought it would be too risky.

“I just feel more confident that we’re going to do it and do it this way,” he said.

Concern over early voting in Bucks County is the latest dispute over voting in Pennsylvania, which has the most electoral votes of any battleground state and is by far the most visited state this year for Democratic and Republican presidential tickets. The run-up to Election Day in the state was marked by numerous battles over mail-in ballots, with some ending right outside the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Associated Press reporter Michael Rubinkam in Allentown contributed to this story.