The final day of on-demand voting in Bucks County, which was extended by two days after a campaign lawsuit against Trump, was marked by long lines, confusion and frustration.
Voters were still waiting to cast their on-demand ballots at 5 p.m. Friday, even though the line for new voters had been closed. Many came to the county building in Doylestown and the government satellite offices in Levittown and Quakertown to “vote early,” but were instead greeted with the long process of on-demand voting.
Pennsylvania, like other states, does not have early voting, where you vote as if you were going to the polls on Election Day, despite presidential campaigns on both sides urging voters to make their choice before Tuesday.
On-demand voting, which essentially means filling out a mail-in ballot in one step, including requesting, receiving, filling out, and in some cases returning the ballot all at once to a government office, has been a long process for Bucks County voters this election cycle.
Friday turned out to be no different.
In Levittown, voters reported waiting in line for up to six hours to cast their ballots on demand.
Amid complaints that the tedious process was a government mistake, county officials prepared to announce that anyone arriving after 4:30 p.m. would be barred from voting. The announcement was in accordance with a court order earlier this week that said voting would close at the end of the day, which is at 4:30 p.m. at the county satellite office on New Falls Road and another officer in Quakertown.
“I waited here for four hours and crawled 15 meters. How much longer?” said Rick Wilson, 75, of Lower Makefield, who was a little more than halfway to the ballot-filling area.
“Total incompetence,” he said.
Folding chairs were set up for older voters and a Republican team set up a tent for anyone who needed cold water. It was said that the Trump campaign ordered pizza for those waiting late into the evening.
Most people said they were voting with on-demand ballots for the first time, like Denise Somers of Fairless Hills.
“I thought it would take two or three hours at most,” she said. “I’ve been here four hours and forty minutes.”
Voters said they found the application-to-vote process confusing, and others mistakenly thought they were voting early in a precinct with regular machines.
County officials had warned of a process that could take up to 15 minutes per voter due to limited equipment, a state-approved secure printer to print our ballots and limited staff specifically trained to process the ballots. process.
The rules last week and earlier this week brought a lawsuit from the Trump campaign, which claimed voters were turned away before the OCT. 29 deadline for on-demand voting. A judge ordered voting in Bucks County reopened through Friday.
Back in line on Friday, some decided to bail on Tuesday and vote in the presidential race between former GOP President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It will take about three hours,” a district employee told Dan Dunham, 71, of Fairless Hills, who arrived in his wheelchair. He has MS and had eight attacks 10 years ago, he said.
“In my condition I can’t wait here for three hours, I can’t keep that up,” he said before leaving.
Even the wife of former Republican Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley had to wait.
“I got here at 8:25 this morning, so I waited six hours,” Suzanne Cawley said after successfully casting her ballot. “The whole system is down for an hour,” she said, extending the wait.
GOP Chairman Pat Poprik arrived late in the afternoon and assured people that the biggest problem was the single printer. “If we had two or three more, everything would go faster,” she said.
Four clerks processed ballot applications and printed secure ballots as quickly as possible, she said. Mike Bannon, of the Bucks County Consumer Protection Department, went through the crowd as an informal goodwill ambassador, calming irritated voters.
“I wish it was a better system,” he said.
Anna Tiberi of Levittown didn’t blame county employees, but was perplexed at how things could be so screwed up. She had completed her application a week ago, but had not received it in the mail.
“I was told they would mail my ballot today, but I just didn’t think it would get there in time,” she said. She filled out a special form and was sent to a faster line to cast her vote.
“They probably need more employees,” she said. “It’s not the workers’ fault, it’s the government’s fault. They know since COVID that a lot of people vote this way. Why weren’t they prepared?”
Another problem was the Trump campaign’s urgent texts, calls and emails on Thursday and Friday to Bucks County Republicans to take advantage of a court-ordered expansion of on-demand voting. That sent a group of people to all three county offices looking for mail-in ballots.
“I don’t think the county expected this many people,” Poprik said.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Levittown, Bucks County on-demand voting sees long lines for ballots
