The Democratic Party of Pennsylvania is seeking a preliminary injunction against the Erie County Board of Elections over problems with mail-in ballots, which it claims could affect up to 20,000 voters.

The problems in Erie started with an Ohio-based third-party vendor, ElectionIQ, which the county has contracted with to print and mail the mail-in ballots, given the large number of requests for mail-in ballots the county has received for the upcoming elections. A voter notified the Erie Board of Elections and the county Voter Registration Office on Oct. 18 that they had received two ballots in the mail, one with the correct information and a second with another voter’s name and address on the return envelope.

Caused a software error ElectionIQ to send duplicate ballots that ended up in the wrong envelopes. The county estimated that about 300 people received duplicate or incorrect ballots, and the U.S. Postal Service “failed to account for” an additional 1,800 mail-in ballots, according to the lawsuit, which the county claims were never sent by ElectionIQ.

The state Democratic Party claims in its filing that it has “been notified by its registered party members of numerous instances in which a voter requested a ballot weeks ago but has still not received their ballot.”

Erie’s mail-in ballots are below the statewide average, the lawsuit alleges 21,536 of 40,844 of voters who requested mail-in ballots – about 52% – receive them before October 28. That’s a difference of 19,308 voters. Statewide, the return rate is 67%, with Erie’s return rate among the lowest in the Commonwealth, the lawsuit said.

The party’s lawsuit seeks to force the Board of Elections to release the names of all voters who received incorrect ballots or did not receive their ballots and ensure they are notified. and to have extended hours at the Board of Elections through Nov. 4, the day before Election Day.

The lawsuit also asks the county to allow observers to compare ballots received after Nov. 1 to confirm voter eligibility. The lawsuit seeks to have blank cancel-my-ballot forms available in every voting precinct through Election Day, so that if someone does not receive their ballot on time, they can cancel their vote-by-mail request and vote in person.

The Democratic Party of Pennsylvania did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

State Reps. Ryan Bizzarro, Bob Merski and Pat Harkins said in a joint statement that they are “committed to ensuring that all of our voters in Erie County – Democrats, Republicans or Independents – have the information they need to vote and participate participate in our democracy. . Our primary concern is to conduct free and fair elections, and always ensure that people’s right to vote is preserved and protected.”

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The province has extended the hours of its voter registration and elections departments. Anyone who requested a mail-in ballot before the Oct. 29 deadline and has not yet received one can visit the BOE office until Nov. 4 at 4:30 p.m. to cancel their ballot and receive a new ballot. before the elections. The voter registration office is open extended until November 3.

Sam Talarico, chairman of the Erie County Democrats, said Wednesday that he has not seen the lawsuit but that he is getting calls from voters asking for instructions. “We told them to go to the courthouse and cancel their ballot, and then they can vote right at the courthouse,” he said.

This applies to people who have already registered to vote and requested a postal ballot. The statewide deadline to request a mail-in ballot was Tuesday at 5 p.m. (with a few exceptions). “And we even provided people with riders to go to the courthouse, and we had a few people that we had pick up the ballots. They must sign a designated agent form. So we are doing what we can to ensure that everyone votes.”

Erie is widely seen as a key piece of Pennsylvania’s electoral puzzle, the bellwether for the must-win battleground state. Former President Donald Trump held one of his first in 2024 campaign rallies in Erie in July 2023and his running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, spoke in Erie last week. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Erie County in 2016 just over 1,900 votesa crushing loss for Democrats as the state turned red. Clinton made no campaign appearances in Erie during her presidential run.

The Democrats seemed to learn from their 2016 defeat; Joe Biden defeated Trump in Erie in the 2020 election with a margin of just over 1,400 votes, or 1.03%, when Pennsylvania turned blue again.