'The clock is ticking rapidly:' Erie County judge to rule on remedies for delayed mail-in ballots
A judge is set to decide Friday on a series of remedies to assist thousands of Erie County voters who applied but never received their mail-in ballots.
The decision comes after the Pennsylvania Democratic Party sued the Erie County Board of Elections on Wednesday, seeking injunction over ongoing ballot delays traced back to a third-party vendor and the U.S. Postal Service.
The Pennsylvania Republican Party subsequently joined the lawsuit.
On Thursday, Erie County Judge David Ridge presided over a hearing on the matter. Attorneys representing both political parties questioned witnesses, including Erie County Clerk Karen Chillcott, Erie County Director of Elections Tonia Fernandez and Daniel Chalupsky, vice president of ElectionIQ, the Ohio-based vendor that printed and mailed the county’s mail ballots.
Following hours of testimony, Ridge said he would reconvene the hearing Friday morning to make his ruling. He said whatever remedies are decided must be implemented fast, as election officials and voters are already scrambling for answers just days before the Nov. 5 election.
“The clock is ticking rapidly,” Ridge said Thursday. “All counsel and I are going to do this afternoon and perhaps first thing (Friday) morning is try to collectively draft an order which will cover as many possible remedies and solutions to this entire situation as can be agreed to."
He added, “I remain convinced that everyone here is trying to find an appropriate solution and doing everything they can … to try to make sure that every single person who followed the law and … requested a mail-in ballot gets a chance to vote on or by Nov. 5.”
Satellite election sites a possibility
A possible remedy could be the opening of temporary satellite election sites in other parts of the county.
The goal would be to accommodate more voters around the county and reduce the often hours-long wait times at the Erie County Courthouse. It will also give voters who’ve yet to receive their mail ballot a greater opportunity to get a new mail ballot issued in person.
Fernandez expressed openness to the idea but said she would have to consult with the Pennsylvania Department of State and ensure she has enough staff and equipment to operate one or more separate sites. She said the Department of State has offered to provide the county additional computers.
Additional remedies already underway
Fernandez and Chillcott said other remedies are already taking place.
On Tuesday, the elections office announced extended and weekend hours through Monday. The office will be open Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Anyone who requested a mail-in ballot before the Oct. 29 deadline but who has not received one can go to the office for a new ballot they can fill out in person through 4:30 p.m. Monday. Their previously requested ballot will be canceled, meaning it cannot be counted in the vote tally if it is completed and submitted.
Anyone who's yet to receive their mail ballot and is currently out-of-state can email the elections office at voterreg@eriecountypa.gov and receive a ballot via priority mail.
Election staff members can also hand-deliver mail ballots to individuals in Erie County who've yet to receive their mail-in ballot and cannot make it to the courthouse due to illness or disability.
"The bottom line is we need to get the ballots in the hands of the voters," Chillcott said.
The Pennsylvania Department of State, as of Thursday, tracked 41,930 approved mail ballot applications in Erie County. That number could be inflated by about 2,000 because it includes both ballots that were canceled and ballots that were reissued to the same voter. Of that total, 23,938 mail ballots have been returned, meaning roughly 18,000 voters have yet to return their mail ballot.
Origins of lawsuit
The county in 2023 hired ElectionIQ to print ballots, including mail-in ballots, and send them to voters who requested them. It's not had any issues with the vendor until now.
Scores of voters have reported that they still have not received their ballots despite requesting them weeks ago and a state ballot tracking website listing them as "pending" for delivery.
In one instance, ElectionIQ dropped off a batch of ballots at a U.S. Postal Service processing center in Pittsburgh, where all Erie mail is sorted, but two bins with roughly 750 ballots were sent from that facility to the wrong post office.
Another 1,711 ballot mailers had illegible or missing barcodes, making them un-trackable through the software used by the Postal Service, which is now using other methods to see where the ballots are. It has determined that some of them have been delivered.
In a separate incident the county learned about Oct. 18, nearly 300 voters received both their ballot and a ballot of another voter.
A.J. Rao can be reached at arao@gannett.com. Follow him on X @ETNRao.