PA state senator challenges dozens of ballot applications in Centre County before Election Day
Centre County has been asked to throw out the overseas mail ballot applications of dozens of voters, challenges that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said were part of mass-produced, bad-faith efforts meant to undermine confidence in the upcoming election.
The 77 challenges target voters who live overseas and do not intend to return to Pennsylvania, often known as “federal voters.” They can only vote in federal contests such as the presidential race.
Pennsylvania Sen. Cris Dush, R-Brookville, filed the challenges in Centre County, the county’s spokesperson wrote in a press release. Each challenge required a $10 deposit.
The Department of State said 124 such ballots were challenged in Centre County, but the county’s spokesperson said several were duplicates and only 77 identified unique voters.
Centre County’s board of elections will have a public hearing about the challenges 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The Pennsylvania Department of State criticized the statewide challenges Monday, saying in a written statement that they are based on theories that Pennsylvania courts have repeatedly rejected.
”Additional challenges came just hours before the filing deadline and seek to disenfranchise overseas federal voters, who are entitled under federal law to vote for federal offices. These voters have been subjected to multiple attacks on their right to vote, including in a recent lawsuit recently brought by members of Congress that was promptly dismissed by the court,” the agency said. “The Shapiro Administration looks forward to continuing the legal process to protect these voters in court and ensure they have their voices heard at the ballot box.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, meanwhile, said Sunday that the unprecedented wave of challenges are a “blatant and illegal attempt to undermine our democratic process and to sow doubt in our elections.”
More than 4,000 challenges were filed in 14 of Pennsylvania’s counties, ranging from a dozen in nearby Clinton County to 1,110 in Philadelphia suburb Bucks County. Friday was the deadline for such challenges.
Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that people who filed the challenges are either “profoundly ignorant of longstanding law or intent on creating confusion and undermining trust in elections.”
“Neither is acceptable, and these challenges should be summarily dismissed,” Walczak said. “We will fight for all eligible citizens to vote and have their votes counted.”
The first batch of challenges to face scrutiny in Pennsylvania failed, an outcome the Department of State hailed as a victory for Pennsylvania voters.
Chester County, another Philadelphia suburb, unanimously dismissed every one of the 212 challenges it received after hearing hours of testimony by students, spouses of military members and others in the community.
The Department of State said it is confident all other similar challenges deserve to also be dismissed.
Many of the other dozen counties that received challenges have yet to schedule hearings or are setting them after Election Day, nonprofit news organization Votebeat reported Monday.
The challenges represent just one of various legal disputes over which mail-in ballots can be counted in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that is expected to be critical in deciding the winner of the presidential election.
The Keystone State has 19 electoral votes, the most of the country’s seven battleground states. Democratic President Joe Biden won the state in 2020, defeating Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by about 80,000 votes.
Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 2:32 PM.