Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans Moves To Defend Drop Boxes in Chester County
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, Sept. 23, the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans (the Alliance) filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought by a conservative group, America First Legal, on behalf of voters challenging the use of drop boxes in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs in this lawsuit allege that if drop boxes are not physically monitored to ensure that an individual is only returning one ballot, they “will suffer irreparable harm in that…void or invalid ballots will dilute their validly cast ballots” in violation of the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions. Additionally, the plaintiffs contend that, once ballots are deposited in drop boxes, they will no longer be able to challenge these votes. The plaintiffs request that the court compel Chester County election officials to physically monitor all drop boxes in the county and to ensure that drop boxes are only accessible during normal business hours.
In seeking to intervene in the case, the Alliance aims to defend the use of drop boxes in Chester County, asserting that the plaintiffs “seek to co-opt the authority of the Chester County Board of Elections to administer elections by asking this Court to adopt and enforce Plaintiffs’ own preferred drop box policies.” The Alliance also explains how its members, most of whom are over the age of 65, disproportionately rely on the use of drop boxes for submitting mail-in ballots and would be directly harmed by the plaintiffs’ request to limit the number of hours during which ballots may be deposited in drop boxes. The Alliance also argues that drop boxes “are critical for voters—including the Alliance’s members and constituents—who are unable to vote in person because of disability, scheduling conflicts, lack of transportation, or other hardship, and who cast their ballot too late to rely on postal delivery.”