Judge extends Bucks County’s in-person mail voting deadline until Friday, after Trump campaign lawsuit

A Pennsylvania judge has extended the deadline until 5 p.m. Friday for Bucks County residents to apply for, receive, and cast their mail ballots in person, following a legal challenge from Donald Trump’s campaign.

In a ruling Wednesday, Bucks County Court Judge Jeffrey G. Trauger held that county officials had violated state election laws by turning away residents who had lined up, in some cases for hours, at county offices to request and cast their ballots before the state deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

As the number of voters exceeded what county elections officials could process that day, administrators began cutting off the line as early as 2:40 p.m. and offering those still waiting alternative means to request a mail ballot and vote.

In its lawsuit, the Trump campaign maintained the county had ignored guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of State that those in line by the 5 p.m. deadline should have been able to request, receive, and cast their ballots Tuesday.

“Instead of complying with the letter and spirit of the Election Code, as well as the directive from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the board ordered security officials to remove some voters … some of whom had been standing in line for hours only to be turned away,” wrote Wally S. Zimolong, a GOP election lawyer representing the campaign in their suit.

The lawsuit — which Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley touted at a Trump rally Tuesday evening in Allentown — comes as Pennsylvania has been buffeted by a flurry of litigation and complaints over the voting process in the battleground state.

In addition to the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and the campaign of GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick signed on as plaintiffs to the Bucks County suit.

Also Wednesday, the state Democratic Party sued Erie County over ongoing mail ballot issues that it said had affected between 10,000 and 20,000 voters.

Meanwhile, the state Commonwealth Court issued a ruling that injected fresh uncertainty into the hotly contested debate over whether undated mail ballots should be counted in the official tallies.

Responding to those issues, Trump took to his social media platform Wednesday morning to falsely declare: “Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before.”

But state and county election administrators maintain the former president and his allies are capitalizing on the types of routine issues that arise and are smoothly resolved during every election cycle to paint a false picture of chaos and fraud.

» READ MORE: Republicans are frustrated over long lines, early cut-offs for in-person mail voting in Bucks County. It underscores limits of Pa.’s law.

In a statement Wednesday, Bucks County officials announced that they would extend the deadline in accordance with the court ruling while noting that they have worked for years to make it easier for residents to vote.

“We are thankful to our Board of Elections staff for their professionalism, and we ask that County residents extend to them consideration, understanding and kindness while they do the important work of conducting a free and fair election,” the statement said.

As lines were cut off Tuesday afternoon outside the county administration building, elections workers distributed stacks of mail ballot applications on clipboards to those at the end of the line.

Voters were given the chance to fill out an application and choose whether they wanted it mailed to them or to pick them up Wednesday.

And despite the frustrations of those who had waited hours to cast a mail ballot in person only to be turned away, they had — and still have — other options for casting a ballot.

Before Tuesday’s ballot request deadline, they could have applied for a mail ballot online — rather than wait in line for hours — then either mailed in their ballot or dropped it off at county offices at any point before Election Day.

Those who missed the original deadline — or the extension to Friday — can still vote at the polls on Tuesday.

Trump and his allies hailed Wednesday’s ruling as a win.

On a call with reporters, William McGinley, outside counsel to the RNC, said: “Today’s ruling really is kind of a victory for making sure that Pennsylvanians are going to have a secure and orderly process.”

Staff writers William Bender and Katie Bernard contributed to this article.