A Bucks County Common Pleas Court judge has issued an injunction order securing the campaigns of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick and the Republican National Committee following confusion and accusations related to mail-in voting.
Judge Jeffrey Trauger issued an order that would allow “any person who wishes to apply for, obtain, vote and return an absentee ballot to appear at the Bureau of Elections office” and do so by close of business on Friday, November. 1.
It was unclear as of 3 p.m. whether the decision affected the district’s main election office and two satellite offices in the lower and upper parts of the district.
Bucks County attorneys sought clarification, asking a judge if they could only open an election office in the county seat. They say the move would allow them to marshal all the necessary equipment and staff to serve voters more quickly.
The judge’s decision came Wednesday afternoon, hours after Republicans filed their complaint.
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt called the decision a major victory in a press call just before 3 p.m.
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a call with reporters after the judge’s ruling that Bucks County’s decision was a “landmark victory.” He noted that the decision would give Democrats and Republicans a chance to participate in absentee ballots upon request if they are rejected.
“The RNC will leave no stone unturned to ensure fair, accurate, secure and transparent elections, not just for Republican voters, but for all voters,” Whatley said.
The statewide deadline to request an absentee ballot in Pennsylvania was Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Confusion over absentee ballots at the Bucks County elections office is leading to long lines of frustrated voters
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Voter registration in Bucks County is roughly even between the two parties. In 2016, the county with a miniature number of votes voted for Hillary Clinton and in 2020, it voted for Joe Biden.
The legal action, which Whatley announced at a Trump campaign rally in Allentown Tuesday night, followed the issuance of a subpoena against Bucks County commissioners – two Democrats and one Republican – and the election director. Commissioners also serve on the Bucks County Board of Elections.
Trauger wrote in his order that the county “violated the Pennsylvania Election Code” on Tuesday.
Republicans filed their requests after numerous reports of long lines at county election offices in Bristol Township, Doylestown Borough and Richland Township in recent days.
The lawsuit says some voters had to wait so long that some were unable to submit absentee ballot requests as of Tuesday’s 5 p.m.
RNC chairman says Trump campaign will sue Bucks County over mail-in voting confusion
Pennsylvania’s on-demand absentee voting system allows voters to order, pick up and drop off absentee ballots on the same day. However, the process can take more than 10 minutes per voter, and lines quickly form due to high demand as some have misunderstood the process as “early voting,” which Pennsylvania does not allow.
After years of Trump-backed concerns, Republicans are pushing to get their voters to vote before Election Day using mailed ballots.
“When you tell people they have to leave the country and that they shouldn’t vote when it’s legal to vote, that’s incredibly problematic, and I don’t know or care whether it had a disproportionate impact on Republicans or Democrats,” Whatley said during Wednesday’s call. telephone. “The fact is that you had voters who lined up and could legally cast their ballots, and officials advised them not to do so. And indeed, it is good to see that the court agreed with us that this is problematic and ordered Bucks County to provide additional days of early voting as a remedy.”
The lawsuit says some voters were turned away after waiting in line when election officials announced they would not be able to process all requests by 5 p.m.
The Trump campaign argued that anyone who gets in line by the deadline should receive a ballot.
The Pennsylvania Department of State recommended that counties allow voters in line before the 5 p.m. deadline to request an absentee ballot, which the Trump campaign says Bucks County has failed to comply with.
Bucks County workers did offer some people who were denied access to the line absentee ballot applications, but the lawsuit says not everyone had that option after security officers closed the line around 2:45 p.m.
In a statement Wednesday, county officials said there was some miscommunication at first, but that anyone should have been able to request an absentee ballot.
Meanwhile, nearby Lehigh County faced challenges but managed to get a judge to extend the deadline to request an absentee ballot due to road closures around a Trump rally near the Allentown elections office.
Videos of the chaos at county government offices quickly spread on social media on Wednesday.
Bucks County officials declined to comment shortly after the lawsuit was filed.
This story was updated on Oct. 30, 2024, at 4:45 p.m., to add that Bucks County attorneys sought clarification
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