Court Decisions Highlight Struggle to Count Democratic Votes in Key Pennsylvania Counties

By: Asa Montreaux

In the final days before a high-stakes presidential election, recent rulings in Pennsylvania have placed Democratic votes at risk of not being counted, raising alarms among voting rights advocates and Democrats in one of the country's most crucial battleground states.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal from Republicans that could have resulted in thousands of provisional ballots being discarded. The decision upheld a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, which required election officials to count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected due to minor errors. This outcome is seen as a victory for voting rights advocates, who argued that rejecting these votes disproportionately affects Democratic-leaning counties. Still, the process highlights the obstacles Democrats face in ensuring that every ballot is counted.

In a separate decision, however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dealt a blow to Democratic voters. The court ruled against allowing mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date on the outer envelope to be counted. Many Democrats had hoped this would ensure that ballots with minor technical errors wouldn’t be disqualified. Voting rights advocates, who brought the case, warn that this ruling could lead to the exclusion of a significant number of ballots in an election likely to be decided by a razor-thin margin.

The Pennsylvania rulings come after four years of intense legal battles over voting by mail, with Republicans filing numerous lawsuits aimed at enforcing strict rules for mail-in ballots, which are predominantly cast by Democrats. Republican lawyers have repeatedly pushed for any technical error — from a missing secrecy envelope to an undated envelope — to be grounds for rejecting a ballot.

In Pennsylvania alone, over 9,000 mail-in ballots, primarily from Democratic voters, face potential disqualification due to issues like a missing signature or secrecy envelope. Voting rights activists fear that the Supreme Court's failure to intervene may lead to widespread disenfranchisement in a state with 19 critical electoral votes.

Replacement Ballots a Last-Ditch Effort to Secure Democratic Votes

In a separate ruling on Friday, a judge in Erie County, Pennsylvania, responded to a Democratic Party lawsuit by allowing about 15,000 voters who applied for mail-in ballots but never received them to pick up replacement ballots in person. With the deadline to apply for mail-in ballots now passed, Erie County’s elections office has been ordered to remain open every day through Monday to assist voters whose ballots were lost or delayed in the mail.

This ruling comes as counties throughout Pennsylvania, especially those with high Democratic populations, face unprecedented challenges processing mail-in ballot requests. In Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia with a Democratic majority, voters faced long lines after a judge ordered a three-day extension for those still waiting to receive their ballots. However, the extension, which only applied until Friday evening, may still leave some Democratic voters without a way to vote if they could not make it to the election office in time. Republicans hope for this in key battleground states, as the majority of mail-ballots, or votes cast ahead, are Democratic.

Voters across the state faced hours-long waits at election offices on Friday, hoping to secure replacement ballots. Voting rights advocates warn that logistical issues, long wait times, and stringent ballot requirements may prevent thousands of Democrats from successfully casting their votes.

In the event of a close election, Democrats expect further legal battles over undated ballots and other technicalities that could prevent Democratic votes from being counted. Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said, “This is going to be raised again after the election, especially if it’s a close election.”

For many Democratic voters and supporters of voting rights, the uncertainty surrounding their ballots has created fear that the right outcome will not be tallied in the election. The stakes are high, and the outcome in Pennsylvania — a state that decided the last two presidential elections by slim margins — may hinge on the thousands of ballots still in limbo.

Short Story Selections encourages all voters to make sure they fill in their ballot properly, and package it in an envelope properly. Ensure that you write the date on the outside of the envelope, on the front, as that is one way in which your ballot may not be countable, no matter what legal advocates argue in court.