Bucks County Board of Elections approves counting of most provisional ballots, to hear challenges

The Bucks County Board of Elections received approximately 4,500 provisional ballots and discussed them at a public meeting Tuesday morning. 

The board, which is made up of the two Democratic and one Republican county commissioners, approved canvassing and counting for the bulk of the ballots, including for those who voted in-person, but failed to turn in the mail-in ballot they requested. 

Representatives from both major political parties objected to various ballot categories. 

Dawn Burke, representing the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, objected to the canvassing of several provisional ballot categories, and Walter Zimelong, on behalf of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, objected to counting undated and incorrectly dated mail-in ballots.

The board scheduled a hearing for Thursday at 9 a.m. to address formal challenges from the parties.

County elections officials still need to count overseas and military ballots, which were due back Tuesday by 5 p.m. The deadline is set by federal law. 

The Bucks County Board of Elections voted to count undated and incorrectly dated mail-in ballots from the election and placed them on separate “target cards” for potential legal challenges. 

The decision impacts approximate 400 ballots and contradicts guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of State.

The board members Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Bob Harvie, both Democrats, voted in favor, and Gene DiGirolamo, a Republican, voted in opposition. 

“I’d rather be on the side of counting ballots than not counting them,” said Harvie, who chairs the board.

The decision includes 175 undated ballots and 229 incorrectly dated ballots. These will be counted but kept separate from other ballots in case of future legal challenges.

Ellis-Marseglia supported counting the ballots and said she “just can’t vote to reject them.”

DiGirolamo expressed concern about potential lawsuits.

“I think we’re going to get sued no matter what,” he said. 

    A “Vote Today” sign is seen outside the Lower Bucks Government Services Center in Levittown on Tuesday Nov. 5, 2024. (Credit: Joseph Kaczmarek/LevittownNow.com)
  

Tyler Burns, a county election official, explained that ballots were considered incorrectly dated if “no reasonable interpretation of the voter’s handwritten date would conform to the appropriate date range for this election.”

Burns noted that ballots using the European date format (day/month/year) were considered correctly dated, in line with state guidance.

The board’s decision comes amid ongoing litigation regarding ballot dating requirements. Recent court cases have produced conflicting rulings, leaving county election boards in a difficult position.

The board also reviewed other categories of segregated ballots, including those with declaration deficiencies, missing secrecy envelopes, and identifying marks.

They rejected 137 ballots with no signature, 142 ballots missing secrecy envelopes, and seven ballots with identifying marks on the secrecy envelope.

    Workers sort mail-in ballots April 23, 2024. (Credit: Matt Smith/Spotlight PA)
  

In a separate decision, the board voted to count provisional ballots where voters signed only one of two required signature blocks, which will place those on a separate target card.

Harvie said that election officials had to segregate and review ballots from a Levittown polling place due to a capitalization error on a Green Party candidate’s name. Due to the sensitivity of the ballot readers, the error led to the ballots to be reviewed before being counted.

The final vote counting could have an impact on local results in the presidential and U.S. Senate races. According to unofficial election results, nearly 400,000 Bucks Countians voted in the election.

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were separated by just over 1,100 votes and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and candidate Dave McCormick were separated by roughly 1,300 votes.

Per state law, Bucks County has to submit certified election results by Nov. 25.