Pennsylvania: Philadelphia scrambles to prepare for primary amid George Floyd protests, coronavirus | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia election officials scrambled Monday to figure out how to conduct an already difficult election during widespread civil unrest. “We are concerned about the civil unrest activity as it continues to occur, but we hope that tomorrow the voters will be able to get to the polls and exercise their right to vote,” said Lisa Deeley, chair of the Board of City Commissioners. “I mean, there is no greater form of protest or letting your voice be heard than going to vote on election day.” The commissioners, the three elected officials who run the city’s elections, relocated staff and about 30,000 ballots from their offices in City Hall this weekend as protesters set fire to cars outside and smashed windows. The demonstrations demanding accountability for the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and broader calls for racial and social justice have led to sometimes violent confrontations with police, damage to property, and looting. On Sunday, the National Guard was brought into the city to help maintain order. No mail ballots were affected during the protests, said Nick Custodio, deputy commissioner under Deeley, and elections staffers are now working from their satellite office at Delaware Avenue and Spring Garden Street, where much of the logistical work of running elections takes place anyway.

Pennsylvania: Days before the primary, Democrats and progressive groups continue push for more time to vote by mail | Jonathan Tamari and Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Just days before Pennsylvania’s primary election, key ground rules are being challenged in four cases now pending before state courts. In the last week alone, Montgomery and Bucks Counties have asked their local courts to extend mail ballot deadlines in their counties; a group of voters in Southeastern Pennsylvania asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to give voters statewide an extra week to return ballots; and Democrats appealed to the state Supreme Court for a one-week extension and to allow third parties such as friends, family, or political activists to collect and turn in mail ballots. The legal challenges have so far been unsuccessful but remained live Friday afternoon. The courts could scramble the election rules just days before people are set to cast their votes on or by Tuesday. State law requires that ballots be received by county elections officials by 8 p.m. on an election day; postmarks don’t count. County officials warn that thousands of voters will receive their ballots too late to return them in time. But Republicans opposing the lawsuits have said changes would invite voter fraud.

Pennsylvania: State election officials see finish line in focus for primary | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tuesday will mark the end of a monthslong sprint by Pennsylvania officials to disease-proof the 2020 primary election in the face of COVID-19, and finally reveal the results of counties’ improvisational decision-making as some voters head to physical polling places and others — many others — wait for their mail-in ballots to be tallied. On ballots across Allegheny County, for example, are one contested Congressional primary, two state Senate races, 10 state House contests, a presidential primary — though technically uncontested — and an auditor general race featuring one of their own. But perhaps more important than who’s on the ballot this year is how that ballot’s administered, and whether voters are able to safely and efficiently exercise their right to vote. Though much of that will remain unknown until the end of Tuesday, it’s an undeniable fact that Pennsylvania received more mail-in ballots than most counties were prepared to process, and that voting will look different on Election Day for those who choose to vote in-person or missed the mail-in deadline. Pennsylvania’s 67 counties will arrive at this moment in history after about 80 days of fierce advocacy for vote-by-mail, an all-hands-on-deck bureaucratic blitz to process those ballots, and a scavenger hunt for state and federal resources that some experts allege wasn’t enough.

Pennsylvania: Republicans don’t want to vote by mail: ‘We’re listening to Trump on this’ | Andrew Seidman /Philadelphia Inquirer

President Donald Trump has said voting by mail is “fraudulent” and will result in “rigged” elections. In Pennsylvania, Republican voters appear to be listening — despite efforts by national and state party officials to encourage mail voting amid the coronavirus pandemic. As of Thursday morning, about 1.3 million registered Democrats had requested and been approved for mail ballots for the June 2 primary election, compared with about 524,000 Republicans. Republicans made just 29% of the requests, even though they represent 38% of registered voters in the state and 45% of those registered with either major party. “I must tell you that locally, in my county, we’re not advocating and we’re not pushing the mail-in voting,” said Lee Snover, chairwoman of the Northampton County GOP. “We’re concerned about fraud. We’re not happy with the process. Trump has sent the message out there that he’s concerned about it as well. “I think that we need to inspire Americans to get out and go to the polls,” she said. “Sign in, identify yourself, and vote.”

Pennsylvania: Judge orders Pennsylvania to launch new voting method for visually impaired voters | Emily Previti/PA Post

A federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the Pennsylvania Department of State must provide a way for visually-impaired voters to fill out an absentee or mail-in ballot online, print it at home and return it to their county elections office. This approach would require the use of assistive technology, such as screen readers or the ability to update refreshable braille displays. The order was prompted by a lawsuit filed May 21 by the National Federation for the Blind of Pennsylvania on behalf of Joseph Drenth  a blind individual living in Chalfont, Bucks County, and working as a software engineer. NFB-Pa. and Disability Rights PA attorneys noted the health risks of voting in-person during the pandemic and the fact that if Drenth “were to go to a polling place, he could not determine on his own whether the people surrounding him were maintaining adequate ‘social distancing’” or taking other precautions. Independent of coronavirus concerns, the lawsuit also faults the existing absentee and mail-in ballots because they require a blind voter to have help in filling them out — an infringement on the voter’s right to privacy.

Pennsylvania: Thousands of Pennsylvania voters might not get their mail ballots in time to actually vote | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Tens of thousands of Pennsylvania voters have been applying for mail ballots every day leading up to Tuesday’s deadline. It’s unclear how many will receive them in time to actually vote in next week’s primary. “There are going to be many people who are still going to be receiving their ballots very close to election day or on election day,” Delaware County Councilwoman Christine Reuther said. “I’m very worried that people are going to be disenfranchised.” Reuther and other county elections officials across the state are warning that an unexpected surge of mail ballots this year, combined with uncertain mail delivery times and coronavirus-related staffing changes, could lead thousands or even tens of thousands of voters to receive their ballots without enough time to mail them back. Some will likely not even receive them until after the election. Others will put their ballots in the mail and expect them to be counted, never knowing their votes arrived after the June 2 election day deadline. The coronavirus pandemic is making every step of the vote-by-mail process take longer than usual. After a voter requests a ballot, it can take a few days to process that application, a day or two to print and prepare the ballot, and a few days for it to be delivered. All told, it can take a week or more for ballots to arrive in a voter’s mailbox. “It becomes a series of falling dominoes, with things backing up,” said Randall O. Wenger, chief clerk of Lancaster County’s board of elections.

Pennsylvania: Blind voters sue Pennsylvania, say they risk COVID-19 exposure without online voting option for June 2 primary | Matt Miller/PennLive

The National Federation of the Blind has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Pennsylvania, claiming the state isn’t taking steps to adequately protect blind voters from the coronavirus during the delayed June 2 primary election. A virus-prompted provision that will give sighted voters the option of casting their ballots by mail to avoid possible contagion is useless to blind electors, the federation claims in suit filed in U.S. Middle District Court. It is asking the court to order the state to develop a system where blind voters can select their candidates online. Otherwise, the federation contends, many of those voters will have to either pass up the election or risk their health by going to the polls to seek help in voting from poll workers. “The once-in-a-century impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has indelibly changed Pennsylvania. For example, for the upcoming…primary election, most Pennsylvanians will choose to safely vote via absentee or mail-in ballot instead of going to the polls, where they risk their health,” the suit states. “But this safer, vote-at-home option is not available to blind1 Pennsylvanians, because the commonwealth’s absentee and mail-in ballots are inaccessible to the blind,” it adds. “Pennsylvania’s reliance on exclusively paper ballots keeps blind Pennsylvanians from participating in absentee and mail-in voting.”

Pennsylvania: Election fraud case sparks renewed accusations about ballot security in Philadelphia | Chris Brennan/Philadelphia Inquirer

An election fraud case in Philadelphia has reignited a long-smoldering partisan political issue and stirred up the 2020 presidential race with less than two weeks before the state’s primary. A South Philadelphia election judge’s March guilty plea to taking bribes to inflate votes for Democratic candidates was kept quiet by federal prosecutors until Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump was again making broad claims about Democratic voter fraud. He offered no evidence to back them up, and threatened to withhold money from states that make it easier to vote by mail. Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee seized on Domenick J. DeMuro’s plea Friday, calling it proof that “voter fraud exists” despite what they said was the news media’s reluctance to report on the issue. “Democrats have a clear and blatant history of committing voter fraud in Pennsylvania,” Melissa Reed, a spokesperson for the RNC and Trump’s campaign, said in a statement. She said the GOP “continues to fight back against the Democrats’ nationwide vote-by-mail push to destroy the integrity of elections.” But Trump’s campaign, along with the RNC and the Pennsylvania Republican Party, also have been urging voters to sign up for the very vote-by-mail ballots that the president keeps declaring instruments for voter fraud.

Pennsylvania: Coronavirus measures further complicating primary when some counties will debut voting machines | Rick Dandes/Daily Item

Valley county election officials are taking steps to ensure that on Pennsylvania primary election day voters and poll workers are protected from COVID-19. On Tuesday, a message sent by the counties of Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union assured all voters in their respective counties that polling locations will be open for any registered voter who wishes to cast their vote in person for the June 2nd primary election. Complicating matters further is that poll workers will be watching new machines and voters will be using these new machines for the first time in Northumberland, Snyder and Montour counties. Union County had the machines in September 2019 and held a public demonstration. Precincts will be organized to follow CDC guidelines regarding social distancing and sanitizing procedures to protect everyone involved. “We ask for your patience while at the polling location, in case the procedures should cause the lines to move more slowly than in the past,” said Sheryl Vrabel, executive administrative assistant, Union County commissioner’s office. Polling location procedures, including the sanitizing of voting machines between uses, social distancing and encouragement of masking are in place to ensure that everyone who wishes to vote in-person can do so safely, Vrabel said.

Pennsylvania: Allegheny County election officials describe around-the-clock efforts amid ‘perfect storm’ | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Convening for one last public board meeting before Pennsylvania’s primary contests in two weeks, Allegheny County officials gave insight Tuesday into the difficulties facing their elections division as it processes a backlog of thousands of mail-in ballot applications and prepares for in-person voting in the midst of a pandemic. Officials insisted that staffers in the elections division are working around the clock — three crews manning three shifts — to send mail-in ballots to voters in a timely manner, but confirmed that about 80,000 ballots are still waiting to be sent. As those sit in the queue, applications continue to stream into the office every day — adding to the more than 225,000 applications it has received so far and the 189,000 it’s processed, officials said. And as mail-in applications continue to flood their mailboxes, elections officials find themselves having to recruit poll workers for in-person voting precincts, make sure those workers are equipped with sanitary equipment and educate voters about where they’re actually supposed to vote when the day comes.

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia coronavirus food boxes to include primary absentee ballot applications | Jonathan Lai,/Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia elections officials are distributing 92,000 absentee ballot applications and promotional fliers in food boxes given out across the city, an effort to reach low-income voters who they fear will risk their health to vote in person or skip voting altogether. “We have a responsibility,” said Lisa Deeley, chair of the Philadelphia Board of City Commissioners, which oversees elections. The commissioners gave 32,000 packets to the city for its food boxes, 40,000 to the Philadelphia School District, and 20,000 to the nonprofit Share Food Program. Data show voters in low-income neighborhoods are requesting mail ballots at disproportionately low rates. That suggests those voters will either show up in person at disproportionate rates or not vote at all. And the commissioners have cut the number of polling places by 77% because of the coronavirus, meaning voters will be gathered at fewer locations than normal, likely increasing crowding and health risks. Elected officials, community organizations, voting rights activists, and political campaigns have urged people to vote by mail instead, but their work has been made harder by the pandemic, Deeley said.

Pennsylvania: State Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit to extend absentee ballot deadlines because of coronavirus | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by advocates who sought to extend the state’s absentee ballot deadlines this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. That leaves in place the current election law, which requires mail ballots to be received by election officials by 8 p.m. on an election day regardless of when voters put them in the mail. A similar lawsuit over absentee ballot deadlines, backed by national Democrats, is pending in a state court. That case seeks a variety of changes, including an election day postmark deadline. The advocacy groups sued the state last month, saying the deadlines are generally not unconstitutional, but are this year because the pandemic is leading to delays in mail delivery and slower processing of absentee ballot requests. The plaintiffs are Suzanne Erb, chair of the Disability Rights Pennsylvania board; Disability Rights Pennsylvania; the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia; SeniorLAW Center; and SEAMAAC. They asked the court to allow ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by election day and received within a week after the election, a change that would increase the likelihood last-minute ballots would arrive in time to be counted. State election officials agreed that extending mail ballot deadlines could be a good idea, but argued it was inappropriate for that to come through a court order. The claims are simply too speculative, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and other officials said, so a change in policy should come from the legislature, not the courts.

Pennsylvania: Allegheny County doesn’t know how many duplicate ballots it mailed out | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The manager of Allegheny County’s elections division said Friday he doesn’t know how many duplicate ballots were mailed out in recent weeks, but that duplicate mailings did occur, the problem is under control and he now has no concerns about the department’s ability to mail and count ballots for the June 2 primary. In a conference call with reporters, Dave Voye, who manages the division that’s had to process a massive influx of vote-by-mail applications and ballots as voters look for an alternative to in-person voting amid COVID-19, said the department started to notice there was a problem with duplicate ballots at the end of April. Several voters told the Post-Gazette this month that they had applied for a mail-in or absentee ballot and received more than one in the mail. The county released a statement on the issue Thursday, and said it was the result of a bug in the state’s voter registration system. “We figured it out and stopped it earlier this week,” Mr. Voye said, noting that the county was trying to process batches of mailing labels that were too large. The system was timing out and pushing the printed labels back into the queue to be printed again.

Pennsylvania: Election security experts urge Pennsylvania to begin planning for expanded mail-in voting this fall | Deb Erdley/Tribune-Review

With the Pennsylvania primary three weeks away, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security say the state must begin planning immediately for secure balloting in the Nov. 3 presidential election. “Bold action is needed on nearly every front here in Pennsylvania, in the United States and around the world.…

Pennsylvania: Glitch Sends Duplicate Ballots To Voters, But System Prevents Double-Voting, Allegheny County Says | Chris Potter/NPR

Allegheny County’s efforts to encourage mail-in voting for the June 2nd primary may be almost too successful: A state database has apparently sent out duplicate ballots as it struggles to keep up with demand – although the county says no matter how many ballots come in the mail, no one will get more than a single vote. In a release sent out late Thursday afternoon, the county’s Election Division said that a problem with the state’s SURE system, a voter registration database, has caused the printing of duplicate labels for mailing and absentee ballots. According to the release, that’s because printing orders are so large that the system is “timing out”: When an employee clears that condition, the system sends the rest of the job to the printer, while apparently also returning the job to the queue to be reprinted again. The issue is “impacting only Allegheny County at this time due to the successful effort in encouraging the mail-in ballot option with residents,” the statement said. It said county workers have addressed the problem by requesting smaller print batches and monitoring processing times. It is not clear how many voters have received duplicate ballots, or for how long the problem persisted. A county spokeswoman said there was “no way to know” the scope of the problem. 

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Looks to Slash Polling Places in June 2 Primary | Associated Press

Philadelphia’s election commissioners voted Wednesday to reduce polling places by nearly 80% in the state’s June 2 primary election as local officials try to adapt to problems finding polling locations and recruiting poll workers amid fears of the coronavirus. The plan, which still requires state approval, would reduce the number of polling places in the nation’s sixth-most populous city from 831 to 190 locations. Election commissioners cited the difficulty of finding polling workers and the need to find sites that can safely accommodate the disabled and voters practicing social distancing. A state law that passed in March delayed the primary election from April 28 to June 2 and allowed counties to consolidate polling places in the primary election by up to 60%, without court approval. Several counties, including Allegheny County, the state’s second-most populous after Philadelphia, have contacted the state about reducing their polling locations by more than 60%, according to state officials. Allegheny County voted last month to reduce its polling places from more than 1,300 to 200 to 300 locations, or by almost 80% at least.

Pennsylvania: GOP groups, nonprofits in fight over mail-in ballot deadline for Pennsylvania primary, general election | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Warning that pandemic-induced bureaucratic delays could prevent many Pennsylvanians from submitting their mail-in and absentee ballots on time before the 8 p.m. cutoff in the state’s June 2 primary and November’s general Election Day, a group of nonprofits are asking the state Supreme Court to step in and force the state to extend its deadline. State and national Republican groups, meanwhile, are trying to get the case thrown out. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania, Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee filed a motion this week asking the court to let them intervene in the matter, insisting that if the court were to compel a change to the ballot deadline, it would upend the “orderly” administration of the election, alter the competitive landscape and undermine laws that protect their voters and candidates. They also allege that the original lawsuit’s dire warnings of voter disenfranchisement are based not on facts, but on “wild guesses dressed up in soaring rhetoric,” according to their court filing. If approved, the Republican apparatus would get to intervene in a case where the nonprofits — led by one that represents more than a million Pennsylvanians with disabilities — want ballots that were sent or postmarked by the Nov. 3 Election Day and received by county elections offices within the following seven days to be considered valid.

Pennsylvania: State allows big reduction in poll workers for 2020 primary election to help counties during pandemic | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Pennsylvania’s county election officials are receiving some relief from state requirements. Counties will be allowed to run the June 2 primary election with fewer than half the normal number of poll workers, the Pennsylvania Department of State said Wednesday evening, with a minimum of five workers per polling place regardless of how many precincts it serves. That will help relieve pressure to fill poll-worker slots. While recruitment has been a challenge for years, the older average age of poll workers makes them vulnerable to the coronavirus. Across the state, counties have heard from poll workers scared to work the primary because of health risk. (State officials have even considered deploying the National Guard to serve as poll workers.) “Poll worker recruitment is always hard, but it is especially hard when whole election boards are telling us that they will not be working due to COVID-19, like they are doing this election,” said Lisa Deeley, chair of the Philadelphia Board of City Commissioners, which normally has to recruit, train, and oversee thousands of poll workers. “Under these circumstances, every little bit that makes running election day easier is helpful.”

Pennsylvania: As Poll Workers Worry About Safety, Staffing For June Primary Will Be A Challenge | Katie Meyer(WHYY

This week, after much deliberation, Nancy Nylund decided that she’s staying home this primary. “It was actually quite agonizing because I love working at the polls,” she said. Nylund, 68, has served as an inspector of elections in her Plymouth Meeting precinct for several years. But she is also on immunosuppressant medication for her rheumatoid arthritis, and so she decided she didn’t want to risk coming into contact with someone infected with COVID-19. As a retired nurse, she knows what would be at stake. “Of course it makes it more risky, since I’m considered immunosuppressed, to be sitting three feet from people checking the books,” she said. Across Pennsylvania, other poll workers are facing the same dilemma as the primary election approaches. Poll workers have to decide whether to disregard pandemic best practices and commit to sitting in a polling place for an entire day, and county and state officials have to figure out ways to keep those workers and voters safe while not infringing on anyone’s rights.

Pennsylvania: How do you prevent a disputed 2020 election in Pennsylvania? Lessons from an expert panel | onathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Imagine: Philadelphia elections officials, overwhelmed by the number of voters requesting absentee ballots, can’t get them all in the mail in time. Voters sue in state court, which orders a change in the deadlines. Republicans go to federal court to stop them. We don’t know who won Pennsylvania, and the White House hangs in the balance. That was one of the nightmare scenarios discussed in a virtual gathering of national election law experts Monday, convened by Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. The discussion focused on current weaknesses in the electoral system — and ways to shore it up to prevent a disaster in November. “You should try to predict things going wrong so that you can figure out what to do about it,” said Ned Foley, one of the Ohio State law professors who organized the event. “When you think your ship is unsinkable … that’s where you’re in trouble, because it turns out you didn’t have enough lifeboats for the Titanic.” “State supreme courts are free to go beyond federal precedent,” said Michael Morley, a law professor at Florida State University. “They’re able to go beyond what a federal court would do.”

Pennsylvania: Counties could be overwhelmed by mail-in ballots, election directors warn | Emily Previti/PA Post

County election directors, anxious about how the coronavirus epidemic could affect the June 2 primary election, are calling on state lawmakers to step in to prevent chaos at the polls. But it may be too late for action by the legislature or Department of State to ensure voting goes smoothly, said Mercer County Elections Director Jeff Greenburg. “Counties were not built for this either administratively or through human capital,” Greenburg said. “There aren’t enough people or enough hours in a day, in many places, to overcome that.” Greenburg was one of three election directors who spoke Thursday during a virtual meeting of the state Senate’s State Government Committee to warn a wave of vote-by-mail applications could overwhelm elections offices that are already grappling with how to organize in-person voting while protecting poll workers and voters from exposure to the coronavirus. “The best solution might have been — and it may be too late to pivot now — to have simply mailed all registered voters a ballot,” he said. “That’s the only way to avoid a situation where counties will not be able to process all applications in a timely fashion.”

Pennsylvania: Pitt report says Congress needs to step up funding to Pennsylvania for election costs amid pandemic | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Congress has provided less than a fifth of the funding that Pennsylvania needs to prepare its 2020 elections for the impacts of COVID-19, according to a new report co-authored by the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security. The collaborative report, based on cost analysis and interviews with state and local elections officials in five states, estimated that Pennsylvania will need between $79.1 million and $90.1 million to hold safe, secure and fair elections this year, warning that that the $14.2 million allocated so far by the federal government is nowhere near enough to “ensure a system that is sufficiently resilient against pandemics or other emergencies.” Estimates showed that the cost to prepare for elections in the five states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Missouri and Ohio — already exceeds the $400 million Congress allocated across the entire country in its third stimulus package in March. “What’s clear to me and what’s clear to others is that state and local officials really need more money, and Congress ought to be the one stepping in to do that,” said Christopher Deluzio, policy director for Pitt’s institute.

Pennsylvania: Counties struggle to find enough masks, gloves for in-person voting June 2 | Emily Previti/PA Post

Pennsylvania election directors face the unprecedented challenge of staffing voting locations for the June 2 primary while also taking steps to protect workers and voters from the coronavirus (and handling a historic number mailed ballots). Many say they aren’t ready. Personal protective equipment – mask, gloves, hand sanitizers and other materials often referred to collectively by the acronym “PPE” – remains difficult or impossible to acquire, county elections officials said. Berks County officials, for example, said they’ve obtained some items — such as gloves and hand sanitizer — for poll workers to use on June 2. But the county still faces “widespread issues surrounding PPE” acquisition in general, according to Brian A. Gottschall, the county’s director of Emergency Services. “It is really all about what product, what quality, what quantity, and what are you willing to pay. All of those things are coming into play with respect to delivery timing,” Gottschall said.

Pennsylvania: Judge rejects push from Green Party’s Jill Stein to decertify Philly voting machines as ‘daft,’ ‘ill-considered,’ and ‘pointless’ | Jeremy Roebuck/Philadelphia Inquirer

Calling her theories “daft,” “ill-considered,” and “pointless,” a federal judge in Philadelphia on Wednesday rejected a push from former Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein to decertify Philadelphia’s new voting machines in advance of the June 2 primary over concerns they could be vulnerable to hacking. In an opinion, dripping with disdain for the “failed candidate’s” legal case, U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond found there was “no credible evidence” to support Stein’s concerns and that granting her request would effectively disenfranchise Philadelphia voters, as there would be no way to replace the machines with new ones in time for the election. “The Commonwealth and the city have expended considerable resources to demonstrate that Dr. Stein has based her motion on absolutely nothing,” he wrote.

Pennsylvania: As counties look to consolidate polling places, advocates worry about voter disenfranchisement | Ivey DeJesus/PennLive

Elections officials across the state are bracing for a walk-out of sorts. Not technically a walk-out but a no-show.With the current coronavirus pandemic still ratcheting up the count of positive cases and deaths across Pennsylvania, election officials  are worried that poll workers are thinking twice about working on June 2, the newly designated primary date. The prospect is pushing up against the idea of further consolidating polling places. The underlying reason: Poll workers tend to be older individuals – typically retired – and as such, they belong to one of the most COVID-19 vulnerable demographics. Election officials are concerned that with the lethal virus still a threat, poll workers will decide to stay home on election day rather than risk exposure to the deadly virus. I‘m in touch with inspectors and judges to see what their comfort level is and I can tell you right now today I‘m going to be missing 30 percent of poll workers,” said Jerry Feaser, director of the Dauphin County Office of Elections and Voter Registration. “That varies from poll workers not willing to serve given the conditions to precincts where maybe a handful of poll workers would be missing.”

Pennsylvania: Luzerne County manager proposes hand marked paper ballots for in-person voting June 2 | April 28, 2020 Jennifer Andes/Times Leader

Non-disabled Luzerne County voters casting their ballots in person on June 2 would use paper ballots instead of the new electronic touchscreen ballot marking devices under a preliminary coronavirus plan presented Tuesday. Each voter would receive a pen to make their selections on paper so no pens would be shared and then feed the paper into a scanner to be tabulated, plan drafter county Manager C. David Pedri told council in its virtual meeting. Each polling place would still be equipped with an electronic machine for voters with visual impairments or other disabilities that prevent them from using paper ballots, with cleaning after each use, he said. Paper is a better option for this primary because it alleviates coronavirus concerns about touchscreens, Pedri said. A day of repeated screen wiping and drying also could slow up voting and damage the equipment, election workers have said.

Pennsylvania: Lawsuit seeks to extend mailed ballot return by a week | Emily Previti/PA Post

Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit late Monday seeking to give voters more time to return their ballots for the upcoming presidential primary. Voters who request absentee and mail-in ballots before the May 26 deadline might receive them at different times due to “factors outside their control, such as variation in mail delivery schedules across the commonwealth or application processing [by] county elections boards,” attorneys from the Public Interest Law Center allege in the 67-page document. Voters could end up getting their ballots late enough that they’d feel compelled to deliver them in person to ensure they’re counted – a health risk given the coronavirus pandemic, the suit contends, also noting about 10,000 voters faced that very scenario in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. Plaintiffs include Disability Rights Pennsylvania, nonprofits SeniorLAW and Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition, and visually impaired and senior voters. They are asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to change the rules so that any absentee and mail-in ballot must be counted so long as the voter sends it by June 2 and counties get it by June 9. Currently, voters have until May 26 to request an absentee or mail-in ballot and must return it by 8 p.m. June 2.

Pennsylvania: A key Democratic group is suing to ease Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail laws | Jonathan Tamari/Philadelphia Inquirer

A major Democratic political group is backing a new lawsuit aiming to make it easier to vote by mail in Pennsylvania because of the coronavirus crisis. The suit was filed Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans and funded by Priorities USA, the main super PAC supporting likely presidential nominee Joe Biden. The suit cites obstacles created by the pandemic — including health risks for voters and poll workers — as requiring expanded mail voting. … The lawsuit is part of a national fight around voting laws, one that has become increasingly critical as the coronavirus has disrupted elections. Both parties are scrambling to adapt for elections almost certain to rely heavily on mail-in voting. The Pennsylvania suit prominently cites the April 7 primary election fiasco in Wisconsin, where numerous polling places were closed, state officials were overwhelmed by a flood of mail-in ballot requests, and many ballots did not reach voters in time, leading to long lines at polling sites, despite a stay-at-home order.

Pennsylvania: Paper ballots at Crawford County polling places for June 2 election | Keith Gushard/Meadville Tribune

It will be paper ballots at Crawford County’s polling precincts during Pennsylvania’s primary election, now scheduled for June 2. Crawford County Board of Elections members voted unanimously Wednesday to move a paper ballot format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The switch will allow for a less potential spread of the virus than using the electronic voting machines, according to board members. The electronic voting machines would require cleaning of touch screens after each use by a voter which could slow the process. However, each of the county’s 68 precincts still will have an electronic voting machine to comply with federal handicapped-accessibility laws, said Rebecca Little, director of the county’s Election and Voter Services Office.

Pennsylvania: Why some election officials oppose a mail-only primary: ‘Considerable potential for serious problems’ | Ivey DeJesus/Patriot-News

Pennsylvania last year expanded access to voting by mail. Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law giving voters the option to vote by mail without having to explain why they can’t cast a ballot in person. Now amid concerns over the highly contagious coronavirus pandemic, some of the state’s largest counties want the upcoming June 2 primary to be carried out exclusively via mail-in ballot. The idea is to do away with in-person voting, which could put poll workers as well as voters at risk of exposure to the coronavirus. More than 34,000 people in Pennsylvania have contracted the virus and more than 1,500 have died, according to the state Department of Health. The proposal already has support among some officials in Allegheny County as well as some of the hardest COVID-19-hit suburban Philadelphia counties, including Montgomery and Chester. But the proposal has engendered some opposition – particularly across central Pennsylvania.