Judge orders Pennsylvania county to reissue thousands of missing ballots ahead of election

A Pennsylvania judge on Friday ordered Erie County to Board of Elections to remedy and reissue new absentee ballots to over 17,000 voters after the original ballots went missing.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party sued the competitive swing county on Wednesday over the issue, after it found that only 52% of ballots in Erie County had been returned as of Monday, which is significantly lower than the national average, and is one of the lowest in the state, according to Politico.

Court of Common Pleas Judge David Ridge ordered the election's board to fix the issue, after the vendor admitted that it could not confirm the status of 13,000 to 17,000 absentee ballots, and 1,200 voters out of state said they had not received their absentee ballot so far. 

Another 365 voters received duplicate ballots that had barcodes that matched other voters, Reuters reported.

Ridge outlined a remedy that included keeping the elections office in the county courthouse open for longer hours, overnighting ballots to out-of-state voters, and providing voters with new ballots if theirs is missing.

Voters in the state who have not received their mail-in ballot so far can track its status online here.

More than 25,000 voters have cast their ballots in Erie County so far, which has 177,000 registered voters. Over one million residents in the state have voted so far.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.