A federal judge has dismissed Pennsylvania Republicans’ lawsuit regarding overseas ballot verification, stating that granting their request for an injunction could affect thousands of voters before the 2024 elections, which is a week away.
“An injunction at this late hour would upend the Commonwealth’s carefully laid election administration procedures to the detriment of untold thousands of voters, to say nothing of the state and county administrators who would be expected to implement these new procedures on top of their current duties,” Judge Christopher Conner of the Middle District of Pennsylvania said in his ruling on Oct. 29.
The ruling raised questions about last-minute changes to election procedures.
Conner held that the plaintiffs, who were members of the state’s congressional delegation, lacked standing and waited too long to sue. His opinion noted that their lawsuit came 36 days before the November elections.
The initial complaint, filed on Sept. 30, alleged that Pennsylvania officials had violated federal law by exempting voters from verification requirements. Among other things, it sought an order directing county officials to segregate ballots from individuals who voted under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which allows special voting privileges for military and other U.S. citizens abroad.
Both court documents pointed out that more than 25,000 UOCAVA ballots had already been delivered by Pennsylvania authorities by the time the plaintiffs filed their amended complaint on Oct. 7.
Conner expressed concern about the implications of requiring the commonwealth to change course at this stage in the election cycle and suggested the injunction would lead to confusion among voters.
“The parties and their candidates almost certainly would have to expend vital resources between now and November 11, 2024, the last day for non-military overseas absentee and mail-in voters in Pennsylvania to submit proof of identification,” he said.
He also worried about a need “to identify and track down affected voters living overseas, educate them about the court’s decision, and encourage them to follow up with their respective counties if they want their ballots to count, thereby potentially delaying certification of scores of elections while legal challenges play out.”
The suit was one of a flood brought before the 2024 elections.
It was filed by six of the state’s eight Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, Dan Meuser, G.T. Thompson, Lloyd Smucker, Mike Kelly, and Scott Perry. The other plaintiff is PA Fair Elections.
The Sept. 30 complaint noted that the politicians are candidates in the upcoming election and that an inaccurate vote count would cause them a “particularized injury,” or the type that is typically considered when weighing whether plaintiffs have standing.
Conner saw their claims as speculative. “The hypothetical concerns the individual plaintiffs raise about the impact of UOCAVA votes in their individual elections are purely speculative, so their status as candidates, without more, gets them nowhere,” he said.
He added that PA Fair Elections “does not identify a single member who has been injured.”
Republicans have also challenged how North Carolina and Michigan process overseas ballots and encountered roadblocks in courts.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is currently asking the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling in Pennsylvania that allows voters to submit provisional ballots after improperly submitting mail-in ballots. That lawsuit similarly suggested an order requiring segregation of particular ballots.
It’s unclear how the Supreme Court will rule but, like other judges, the justices will likely take timing into account. Both the RNC’s brief and another from Virginia have asked the Supreme Court to consider the Purcell principle, which generally cautions against procedure changes just before an election.
Zachary Stieber and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
