Voting Rights

The Pennsylvania Election Protection coalition today has fielded more than 350 calls to the toll-free Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE, including 191 reports of problems, as of 10 a.m.

The Pennsylvania Election Protection Coalition is calling on Governor Wolf, mayors across the state, and elected officials to ensure that Pennsylvania voters are not disenfranchised at the polls or discouraged from voting in tomorrow’s primary election as a result of the law enforcement and National Guard response to recent protests.

Today marks less than a week before the June 2 primary election. The Pennsylvania Election Protection Coalition is urging any voter who plans to vote by mail but has not yet sent the ballot back to mail it immediately or drop it off at locations designated by their county instead. Voters who have questions or problems voting, either by mail or in-person, should call the nonpartisan “Election Protection Hotline” where volunteers will be able to answer their questions.

Purging lawful voters from Pennsylvania’s voter rolls is illegal and undemocratic, voting rights groups said today while filing a motion to intervene to protect voting rights in the state. 

Suzanne Almeida, interim director of the voting accessibility advocacy group Common Cause Pennsylvania, said she supports, “in principle,” the sending of mail-in ballot applications to all eligible voters in the state, but wants to make sure it’s accessible to all voters — including those with visual disabilities who would need to vote on a ballot marking device, for example.

“It’s been 80 years since we’ve done something like this,” said Micah Sims, head of the Pennsylvania branch of the good-government group Common Cause. “We can’t allow one particular entity to do it all by themselves. We have to work together.”