On Election Night 2024, one of the most closely watched states will be Pennsylvania.
The Keystone State, with its 19 electoral votes, could decide the United States' presidential election. And polls are showing a very close race there between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.
With the vote just days away, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party is suing the Erie Board of Elections over thousands of missing mail-in voting ballots.
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Pennsylvania Capital-Star reporter Kim Lyons wrote, "The issues in Erie began with an Ohio-based third-party vendor, ElectionIQ, that the county contracts with to print and mail its mail ballots, given the volume of requests for mail ballots the county has received for the upcoming election…. A software failure caused ElectionIQ to send duplicate ballots that went into incorrect envelopes."
Lyons added, "The county estimated that about 300 people received duplicate or incorrect ballots, and the U.S. Postal Service has 'been unable to account for' another 1,800 mail ballots, according to the lawsuit, which the county says were never mailed by ElectionIQ."
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party's lawsuit, according to Lyons, "seeks to compel the (Erie) Board of Elections to release the names of all the voters who received incorrect ballots or have not received their ballots, ensure that they are notified, and to have extended hours at the Board of Elections through November 4, the day before Election Day."
"Erie is widely viewed as a key piece of the Pennsylvania electoral puzzle, the bellwether of the must-win battleground state," Lyons explains. "Former President Donald Trump held one of his first 2024 campaign rallies in Erie back in July 2023, and his running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, spoke in Erie last week."
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Lyons continues, "Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Erie County in 2016 by just over 1900 votes, a crushing loss for Democrats as the state flipped red. Clinton did not make campaign appearances in Erie during her presidential run."
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