More than 50 million voters in the United States have already cast their ballots since early voting began in mid-September as the country looks to elect the next president and other candidates down the ballot.
However, people looking to cast their votes ahead of Election Day have been faced with several challenges. Long lines in Pennsylvania have frustrated many residents trying to cast their vote early. Other voters’ ballots have been destroyed and damaged in arson attacks, and hundreds more ballots were discovered on a roadside after falling off a processing vehicle.
As early voting wraps up, the Washington Examiner looks into four incidents in which ballots cast ahead of Election Day were put at risk.
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Pennsylvania: On-demand mail voting goes awry
An awkward and “inefficient” new voting process has lawmakers saying some Pennsylvania voters could be “disenfranchised.”
The procedure, instituted just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, has led to swamped county offices struggling to handle the record influx of disgruntled voters. While many voters across the country can simply go to their polling center and immediately cast a ballot once they get through lines, Pennsylvania is using an early voting process called on-demand mail voting, which requires residents to go to their county government office, fill out an application to early vote, and receive approval, before the official will print their ballot. The process takes a minimum of 12 minutes per voter, according to WHYY.
“It’s an uncertain process for a lot of people because it’s still relatively new, and it’s also kind of inefficient,” Bucks County Board of Elections Chairman Bob Harvie told the outlet. “There’s definitely changes that need to be made.”
The problems hit home hard in Bucks County over the weekend, with election officials cutting off lines of voters so they could close the polling location on time.
The move attracted backlash from Bucks County lawmakers, who wrote in a letter to Bucks County commissioners on Sunday that they were worried Pennsylvania residents were being “disenfranchised.”
The letter, signed by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (D-PA), said, “This incident has sent shockwaves throughout our community and is causing individuals to lose faith in our electoral system” and urged officials to change the on-demand mail voting policy.
After the Republican National Committee brought a lawsuit appealing the process Wednesday morning, Pennsylvania Judge Jeffrey Trauger ruled in its favor, extending the on-demand mail voting period for three additional days.
JUST IN: Trump campaign wins lawsuit in Bucks County, Pennsylvania after footage went viral showing voter lines being shut down hours early.
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“We just won our lawsuit in Bucks County for extended Early Voting through Friday at 5 PM,” @JamesBlairUSA… pic.twitter.com/CCtvYIRYI9
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 30, 2024
Wednesday was originally set to be the last day of on-demand mail voting in Bucks County. However, voters now have until 5 p.m. Friday to complete the process.
Florida ballots found by roadside: ‘Human error’
After a passerby found hundreds of ballots on a Florida roadside, the Miami-Dade Elections Department fired a careless worker.
Miami elections officials said the incident was due to “human error,” explaining that an employee had forgotten to lock the back of the truck, enabling a bin and bag of ballots to fall out of the vehicle and onto the roadside. Florida residents subsequently stumbled across the ballots and delivered them to the police, who said there was no evidence of tampering.
“The worker forgot to lock the back of the truck and as they drove off, one sealed bin and one sealed bag fell out, containing already voted ballots from early voting,” the Miami-Dade Elections Department wrote in a statement Tuesday. “While unintentional, the elections department has a zero tolerance for error and therefore the employee was terminated.”
A box and a bag containing early voter ballots was found on the road by a driver in Florida. pic.twitter.com/Iu6kPYO0JH
— Yashar Ali
(@yashar) October 30, 2024
Another voting debacle had Floridians stewing when a bad actor stole blank ballots from Orange County residents’ mailboxes using a stolen U.S. Postal Service master key earlier this month.
“Recently, our office was made aware by Orange County voters and the United States Postal Service that a stolen USPS Arrow Key was used to access cluster mailboxes in the county,” Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean said. “During the theft, several vote-by-mail ballots our office mailed days earlier to voters were discarded on the ground.”
Chief Elections Administrator Christopher Heath has indicated the thief was after mail containing money, as the nearly dozen blank ballots were found in nearby storm drains.
“The people breaking into these cluster mailboxes do not care about ballots,” he told McClatchy News. “They don’t want ballots, but mailboxes have ballots in them.”
Ballot arson in Pacific Northwest: ‘Free Gaza’
Three ballot boxes across the Pacific Northwest have been targeted by an unknown arsonist who is possibly a pro-Palestinian agitator.
Ballot boxes in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, were set on fire Monday. Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey confirmed Wednesday that nearly 500 ballots were destroyed in the Vancouver fire, and an unknown number were destroyed as authorities continue to search for the arsonist.
Another Vancouver ballot box was targeted earlier this month, though no ballots were damaged.
The Clark County Elections ballot drop box at the Fisher's Landing Transit Center was lit on fire this morning. Clark Co. Auditor Greg Kimsey says hundreds of ballots were inside at the time, the last pickup being 11AM Saturday. Full story here https://t.co/sYkz8ydEqH @KATUNews pic.twitter.com/a8vw0QXXoY
— Evan Bell (@evanbellKATU) October 28, 2024
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Authorities believe the three incidents are connected, while the New York Times has reported that “Free Gaza” messages were scrawled on all three incendiary devices used to target the ballot boxes.
The FBI has mounted an investigation into the arson attacks. Portland Police Bureau Assistant Chief Amanda McMillan said during a Monday news conference that the fires are “targeted” and expressed concern that the suspect, or suspects, is “trying to impact the election process.”
