Chester County GOP lawsuit could block some mail ballots from being counted in Tuesday’s primary

Chester County Republicans have filed a lawsuit against the county’s election board ahead of Tuesday’s primary that could block some mail ballots from being counted.

The suit also seeks to strike down a rule blocking party committee members running for reelection from serving as poll watchers on Election Day.

In a complaint filed Thursday in the Chester County Court of Commons Pleas, the Republican Committee of Chester County asked a judge to block the county from counting ballots if they were returned by a single agent for multiple residents in a long-term care facility — potentially invalidating those ballots days before the state’s primary election. It is unclear how many facilities, if any, would be impacted.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday morning, the day before the April 23 primary.

The GOP committee argued that in 2023 the county had incorrectly interpreted the state’s mail ballot law — which limits ballot returns on behalf of disabled voters to one per person unless all the voters are in the same household. The law, they argued, clearly explains that long-term care facilities should not be considered a single household meaning residents cannot use the same staff member or volunteer to return their ballots.

While the lawsuit did not name the long-term care facility implicated it said “the RCCC learned that the county had counted mail in ballots that had been submitted by residents of a long-term care facility. Each of the residents had designated one person to represent them.”

When the committee challenged the county’s decision to count the ballots, the lawsuit said, county officials responded that designations for spaces such as nursing homes had been left to courts and local election officials.

In its response to the lawsuit, Chester County said that no decisions about which mail and absentee ballots should be counted have been made before Election Day. But it also said that Pennsylvania case law rests that power with the county election board.

“A county elections board can reasonably determine that a long-term care facility is a household. Residents at a long-term care facility share a common address. Residents may have no other possible household,” the county’s response said.

It’s unclear if a similar situation occurred this year. But if such a designation is made, said Dolores Troiani, the party’s attorney, the election board needs to make a public resolution declaring long term care centers households.

“All we’re saying is one follow the law. If you’re going to make policy decisions you must do those policy decisions in front of the voters,” Troiani said in an interview.

Troiani declined to identify the specific long-term care facility where the party believes mail ballots were improperly collected, arguing the larger concern right now is overall conduct at the county.

The lawsuit comes after years of partisan furor over mail ballots as former President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed mail ballots for his 2020 loss and stoked conspiracy theories.

There has been no evidence of widespread fraud involving mail ballots in Pennsylvania or elsewhere. But across the country the political right has sought to restrict their use.

In Chester County 43,459 voters applied to cast either absentee or mail ballots, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. As of Friday morning, 23,780 of those ballots had been returned to the county election board — most of them coming from Democratic voters.

In addition to challenging the mail ballots, the committee argued the county had repeatedly taken action on elections without sufficient notice to the party and was now blocking GOP committee members up for reelection from acting as poll watchers as they have in previous elections.

“It just seems like one thing after another after another,” Troiani said.

The committee is seeking an immediate injunction against the county to ensure their committee members can act as poll watchers on Tuesday.

Staff writer Aliya Schneider contributed reporting.

This story has been updated to include Chester County’s response.