Former President Donald Trump’s campaign filed a lawsuit against Bucks County, Pennsylvania, alleging ‘voter suppression’ after voters were turned away early.
Voters said they were turned away from the Bucks County elections office as early as 2:30 p.m., even though the Pennsylvania Department of State said that if they were in line by 5 p.m., they had the right to apply for a mail-in ballot.
‘This is a direct violation of Pennsylvanians’ rights to cast their ballot – and all voters have a right to STAY in line,’ the campaign announced in a statement.
‘This is voter suppression from the left,’ the message from the campaign continued. ‘We will fight for every legal vote in Pennsylvania. Go vote, and stay in line!’
It’s the second instance in recent days of election issues in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania after 2,500 ‘fraudulent’ voter registrations were found in Lancaster County.
The county later Wednesday granted an extension allowing early voting to continue until 5 p.m. on Friday.
People wait in line outside the Bucks County government building to apply for an on-demand mail ballot on the last day to request one in Doylestown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024
Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally at The PPL Center on October 29, 2024 in Allentown, Pennsylvania
The lawsuit states that the Bucks County board of elections ‘denied voters the ability to their statutorily guaranteed On Demand Mail-in Ballot Option.’
It goes on to describe ‘multiple reports’ of voters being turned away due to the ‘long lines.’
Trump also voiced his concerns about voter suppression during a campaign rally on Tuesday night.
‘They got caught cheating in Lancaster County, they got caught in York… they weren’t going to do it until right after the election, but we had a whistleblower who blew the whistle on them… they cheat like hell and it’s a damn disgrace and we’re going to get it straightened out,’ he went on.
‘In Pennsylvania, we haven’t seen it anywhere else yet,’ he said during a campaign rally in In Allentown.
He was referencing criminal investigation in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where election officials flagged 2,500 voter registration forms for potential fraud.
Republican officials called it an organized effort but also said it had been contained.
It related to batches of registrations that had been dropped off in bulk, with some containing false names, suspicious handwriting, signatures that didn’t match, or wrong address information.
Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29
Two other Pennsylvania counties ‘received similar applications’ and were notified to check into them, Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said at a news conference. She declined to name the other counties.
‘It appears to be an organized effort at this point,’ said Adams, an elected Republican. ‘But of course, it’s an ongoing investigation. And we’ll be looking into who exactly participated in it and how far up it goes.’
At the news conference, Lancaster Commissioner Ray D’Agostino, a Republican who chairs the election board, said: ‘The fact of the matter is, we’ve contained this. This is not right. It’s illegal. It’s immoral. And we found it, and we’re going to take care of it.’
Pennsylvania and its 19 Electoral College votes are crucial for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris to win the 270 necessary to secure the White House.
The Keystone State was also one of the hubs of unfounded voter fraud allegations in 2020.
It took four days to finish counting the ballots to declare President Joe Biden the winner of that race due to the county requirements in the state.
In 2020, the results there were not known until 11 a.m. local time on the Saturday after Election Day.
Trump in 2020 repeatedly pointed to irregularities and claimed fraud as part of his effort to overturn the election results. The effort included repeated statements about fraud risks before the election, with his allies directing many of their complaints against Pennsylvania.
Trump regularly speaks at his campaign rallies about a plan to ‘swamp the vote’ to overwhelm what he calls Democratic voter fraud.
Still, Trump underlined that ‘the election itself is going very well,’ by which he meant how his campaign to regain the White House is faring.
