“People need to get out there and vote, and they need to be confident in the system.” Witold Walczak, Legal Director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, summed up his organization’s response to the myriad challenges lobbed – without merit – at Pennsylvanians around the commonwealth.
For now, Walczak says, it’s an intimidation tactic – one the ACLU of Pennsylvania isn’t taking lightly. In a letter sent to all 67 county solicitors, the ACLU explained that the Republican party’s voter registration challenges are without merit.
The challenges filed prior to November 5 and after the close of the voter registration deadline come from the U.S. Postal Services National Change of Address (NCOA) database and this information provides zero usable data. The letter states, without equivocation, “We caution you that taking any action to deem a voter ineligible or to prevent their ballot from being opened and counted based on such mass challenges on the eve of the November 5, 2024 election would violate federal law.”
Thus far in the process, all the challenges Walczak and his colleagues have fielded – including those in Bucks County – are attempts to disenfranchise. “Regarding GOP primary opposition, all of our cases are about trying to make some eligible people ineligible to vote.”
Disappointed but not surprised, Walczak observes that nearly all the challenges made even before votes have been cast or counted target college students and members of the U.S. military. Speaking directly to the individuals claiming to be patriots while filing mass challenges because of temporarily rerouted postal services, “You know nothing. You might not care about students, but [your rhetoric implies that] you should care about the military.”
Walczak wants voters to vote without fear of right-wing challenges and with the knowledge that the ACLU has adequate staff prepared to defend a citizen’s fundamental right to self-governance.
Devera Lang, a Pennsylvania majority poll inspector who has done her part to safeguard the commonwealth’s election process since 2017, is likewise confident that Pennsylvania’s vote gathering, and subsequent tallies will be safe and dependable. Lang and all her 45,000 poll working colleagues have been either elected or appointed (appointed if not enough workers stand for election), to work long hours leading up to and including Election Day. Regardless of election or appointment, would-be poll workers must gather petition signatures and serve four-year terms. Intensive training is required.
Lang has willingly dedicated herself to this civic task because she’s, “always felt great gratitude that we have the opportunity to express our opinion about what’s going on in this country – through voting.” A soft-spoken woman, Lang adds, “Because I felt grateful, I thought I should make it possible for others to vote.”
On Election Day, Lang and her colleagues will arrive at each of the commonwealth’s corresponding 9,153 voting precincts at 6 a.m. to be sworn in by their poll judge. Lang will not leave her precinct – not for lunch or any other personal purpose – until after the polls close and the machines are secured at 8 p.m. “We try to get done by 9 p.m., after the machines are sealed and locked,” she and her election judge deliver the elections books that contain the name of every registered voter in her precinct, and all voting data to the county election board. “It’s a long grueling day, but I get to meet our neighbors. It’s nice to know your neighbors.”
As for mail-in voters who present themselves on Election Day, “The election book contains the names of everyone who has already submitted their ballot. If they haven’t already turned it in, we take it, but it must have all the parts. If they don’t have the inside ballot, they can only vote provisionally.” The provisional ballots, “have many sections and require many signatures in many places. They then go into sealed envelopes.”
Walczak says that when those provisional ballots or any election ballots face challenge, “they’ve [the voters] signed an affidavit and they are susceptible to felony prosecution” if they’ve attempted to vote illegally.
Bucks County Representative Tim Brennan – one of the lawyers who successfully defended Pennsylvania’s election process following the 2020 election – thinks the MAGA opposition to voter enfranchisement is the same old song on a new day. “I know I’m seeing a lot of the same things I saw in 2020. Republicans filing lawsuits around the notice and cure provisions – that’s the exact same issue that led Trump to say their election was stolen.”
Brennan explained, “He’s [meaning Trump] a sore loser. He’d deprive the mail-in voter of the right to repair their mail-in ballot or to vote provisionally. These tactics should be an embarrassment to the group that is doing that.”
Brennan, who is also seeking re-election, looks forward, “to the opportunity every single day to do something positive for 65,000 people of Bucks County. And for 13 million Pennsylvanians.” He knows the spirit of service that guides him is not shared by groups that seek to disenfranchise even one eligible voter. “I believe in the premise that FDR stood for, ‘Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.’”
But for voters in Pennsylvania – arguably one of the most important swing states – the pressure is mounting. “Living in Bucks County we are constantly told we are the swingiest county of an already swing state. It seems like it’s up to us.” Diana Leygerman of Warwick just can’t wait for it to end … As long as it ends well. “We felt this way in 2016, too. It was up to us and Ohio. My girlfriend and I would joke about it. Then when the election was over, we both felt like we’d failed.”
Leygerman knows that it’s nearly time to turn over responsibility for the election to the lawyers. “Many of us are active. We’ve done the canvassing. We did the postcards. We never feel like we’ve done enough.” Leygerman is hopeful for Election Day, “I do think Harris is going to win Pennsylvania. I’m just looking at the groundwork. I’ve seen a guy put up 40 Trump signs in a row, but signs don’t vote.”
Even though she’s confident about a Harris win, Leygerman is still on edge about the outcome. “I think it’s gonna be a mess after. I think it’s gonna be a tough couple of weeks while they challenge our votes.” In addition to political fights, she fears physical violence as well. “I can’t imagine that this rhetoric is going to just die down.” She feels current politics “brings out the people that are gonna suck all the air out of the room.”
Walczak understands her concerns and stands ready to defend the election process, regardless of the sort of brawling the other side encourages or lies they may tell. “Theirs is an effort to undermine people’s faith in the election so that when they lose, they can claim it was stolen.” His counsel? Don’t fall for it. “The system in PA is strong. It’s poised to work well from a non-partisan election front. We are ready as we’ve ever been to protect people’s right to vote. I have teams standing by to be in the courts all over this commonwealth.”
