During Pennsylvania’s primary election in summer 2020, as election officials worked to fulfill an overwhelming number of mail ballot requests due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many Pennsylvania voters did not receive their previously-requested mail or absentee ballot in time to cast it. Fair Elections Center and Hogan Lovells filed a complaint in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on behalf of a Pennsylvania voter who in June was disenfranchised when she was forced to choose between her health (and that of her elderly mother) and her right to have her voice heard. She sought to avoid that same fate in the November general election, as the Covid-19 pandemic continued.
The lawsuit sought several options to ensure that voters who have not received their timely-requested ballots and who cannot vote in person due to the risk of contracting or transmitting Covid-19 could still receive their ballots in time to vote, including:
Allowing the Commonwealth to electronically deliver replacement absentee and mail ballots
Authorizing voters to use a downloadable write-in ballot
Permitting a voter to designate a person to pick up their previously requested but undelivered ballot in the week before the election
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
Complaint (9.1.20)
PRESS
Press Release — New Lawsuit Seeks to Ensure Voters Can Obtain Ballots In Face of High Volume, Mail Delays (9.1.20)
