Pennsylvania voters have been lining up at state election offices for the past two days to cast their ballots first.
Republicans and Democrats have been responding to the regular advertisements on social media and in newspapers encouraging Colonists to “vote first” This method, which allows them to see who has cast ballots, has been promoted by both parties, allowing them to concentrate on ads targeting voters who have n’t yet opted in.
The thing is, “early voting” does not simply arise in Pennsylvania. Otherwise, there is “on demand” election, a peculiarity unwittingly created when the state senate passed Act 77 in 2019, allowing mail-in election.
Electors who choose the mail-in vote may request a vote by the date — Tuesday, Oct. 29.
Once completed, the vote may email it in any box, cut it in a state vote cut package, or, the favored method for many voters, fill it out on the spot and hand it in at the counter of the county election office. That has become known as on-demand mail-in ballot.
The ballot is kept together with all other mail-in ballots and is counted along with them, but giving the ballot to an election official feels more secure for those who do n’t trust an envelope with$ 1,000 in cash.
Despite the Oct. 29 date to obtain a mail-in vote, voters still have until vote time, Nov. 5, to return it to the election office by hand, email, or drop box.  ,
When state election officials in various Pennsylvania regions cut off the lines of people who waited hours with the purpose of “voting quick,” things got heated on Monday and Tuesday.
Bucks County received the most attention on social media, despite the fact that it took place all over the condition.  ,
Counties posted indicators warning people they might not be served  and the range might be cut off, and they employed armed representatives to explain the procedure. However, there were great hostilities, and social media posts urged citizens to” stay in line.”
By Tuesday evening, Michael Whatley, president of the Republican National Committee, told a march of adherents the GOP was going to reimburse Cash” for turning away our citizens”.  ,
However, these were not polling locations and this was not Election Day. Even though in-person election is permitted, the” Dem PA Supreme Court has ruled these are not POLLING Areas,” and election observers are not permitted, according to vote attorney Cleta Mitchell.
Pennsylvania counties were simply set up to meet mail-in vote requests and take” on demand “mail-in vote returns. There is a change, and it relates to the unique voting guide.
Extra workers and individuals are manning polling locations throughout the state on Election Day. Citizens put their names in digital or report polls.
To make the surveys book, counties may give the state all vote knowledge by midnight on Oct. 29, James T. O’Malley, a Bucks County official told The Federalist.
The book includes only the names of the citizens who are available. So if you received a mail-in vote, your title does not go in the poll text. It serves as a safeguard against having two persons cast ballots.
On Election Day, all the votes are printed, and after voters mark the ballot guide, they are handed a ballot, move to a ballot hall, mark their votes, and then place them in the sensor to finish the voting process.
Because it is not Election Day, that process did not work this week.  ,
” On demand, mail-in voting has taken the place of early voting, and we’re not set up for that,” O’Malley said”. That’s why you end up with a long line. We have a printer that can print these ballots. Although we have staff that can process a few applications at once, you can only print one ballot at a time.
The voter gets to the counter, asks for a mail-in ballot request  , form, and fills out the form. There is no poll book, so the election worker runs the individual’s information through the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors ( SURE ) computer , system , to make sure he is a registered voter, eligible to vote in the county. Then they tell the SURE System this voter has requested a mail-in ballot, print a ballot specific to the voter’s precinct, and hand the voter the mail-in packet, which includes two envelopes and the ballot.
The voter fills out the ballot, seals it in the inner and outer envelopes, signs and dates it, and hands it back to the election worker.  ,
Voters are given a chance to step to the side and fill out the ballot in order to move things along. They have the option of mailing it, returning it, or placing it in the drop box outside the building.
We’ve had to go out and cut off the line at a certain point during this on-demand voting process,” O’Malley said.” We estimate that each voter will have 12 minutes to complete the ballot by the time they are on the front of the line. That does not include the hours you could spend waiting in line for the front of the line. They are able to determine how many people they could serve during regular business hours, and then they abruptly cut off the line and declare,” This is the last person we can serve today for on demand, mail-in voting.”
People were disappointed when that happened, he said, but it was not a huge problem until the last two days.
Tuesday, Bucks County accepted mail-in applications from everyone who was in line by 5: 00 p. m.
The county promised to call and let those who were not given ballots in person on Tuesday know their ballot was ready to be picked up in person, according to O’Malley, and those who were not given one on Tuesday will receive it in the mail. They have until 8: 00 p. m. on Election Day to return the completed ballot.
” I understand their frustration,” O’Malley said”. They are told that they are going to have to come here and cast their ballots early, that this is a polling location, and that voting early is the same as voting early. It’s not a polling place.”
Election workers are aware of the high emotions.
” You know, 2020, was a lot, for a lot of people. We understand that as well.”
Election workers stayed and processed all the information into the night after the line was cut off and the office was closed to the public in order to meet the midnight deadline, which required poll books to be prepared in time for the Nov. 5 Election Day.
The RNC announced on Wednesday that it had taken legal action and prevailed in getting Bucks County to extend “early voting.”
The Bucks County Board of Elections was given the order from Judge Jeffrey Trauger of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas to allow anyone to “apply for, receive, vote, and return a mail-in ballot” during business hours before the election bureau’s closed on November 1, 2024.
Trauger said the county’s action of turning voters away before the 5: 00 p. m. deadline on Oct. 29 violated the election code.
For more election news and updates, visit , electionbriefing.com.
Beth Brelje covers The Federalist’s elections coverage. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
