Here's What Happened in a Key PA County Yesterday

There is reportedly a five-alarm fire in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. This area will decide the 2024 election. Donald Trump must win here. He split with Hillary Clinton in 2016 and won the state. While historically an evenly split county, the voter registration advantage has tilted toward the Republicans. Shockingly, that coincides with some administrative issues at election sites that some allege are intentional.

The line to early vote at Doylestown, PA in Bucks County is OUT THE DOOR and wrapping around the block.

This is MASSIVE!

When you try to suppress the vote, you only end up making us more determined! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7NRokN0QN7
— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) November 1, 2024

People are literally showing up to vote in Bucks County PA wearing garbage bags!!! pic.twitter.com/ZS9fCodwop
— Keith 🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🐘 (@KeithbPa) October 31, 2024

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee were incensed that voters were reportedly turned away during the early voting process. They sued, and a Pennsylvania judge sided with them, extending the deadline until yesterday. Even then, it was a shambolic process (via The Guardian):

What are you doing, @Commish_Schmidt?

Voters have been waiting HOURS for in-person voting in Levittown, PA.

Why don’t you have more SURE system computers?

Why don’t you have enough staff?

Is it a coincidence this is happening in 📍Bucks County (which we flipped 🔵🔜🔴)? pic.twitter.com/rtFvTWaR8h
— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) November 1, 2024

A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday sided with Donald Trump’s campaign and agreed to extend an in-person voting option in suburban Philadelphia, where long lines on the final day led to complaints voters were being disenfranchised by an unprepared election office.
A lawsuit demanding an extension of Tuesday’s 5pm deadline in Bucks county was filed on Wednesday morning after long queues outside the county’s election office on the last day for applications led to security guards cutting off the line and telling some of those waiting they would not be able to apply.
Videos of the scenes were widely circulated on social media, fuelling rumours of voter suppression.
The Trump campaign was joined by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick in the lawsuit, alleging that voters waiting outside election offices for mail ballots were turned away empty-handed and ordered to leave after the deadline expired at 5pm on Tuesday.
[…]
Judge Jeffrey Trauger said in a one-page order that Bucks county voters who want to apply for an early mail ballot now have until Friday.
The queues for late mail ballots were a result of Pennsylvania not having an early on-site voting system at designated spots, as is the case in some other states. Instead, voters can apply for ballots on demand at election offices before filling them out and submitting them on the spot, a procedure that takes about 10 minutes.

Still, the videos on the ground painted a different picture, where officials were criticized for doing the bare minimum to accommodate voters and the judge’s order. People were allegedly waiting five-plus hours to vote, with some locations reportedly having inadequate staff to handle the waves of voters everyone and their mother could have predicted. If this isn’t voter suppression, it’s outright incompetence:

HAPPENING NOW: Voters are waiting 6 *hours* in line to vote in Levittown, PA, a Republican stronghold, because of apparent staffing issues.

Voters who were interviewed say they can't come back on Tuesday due to work.

The development comes after early voting was… pic.twitter.com/GPjulzrzT0
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 1, 2024

Pennsylvania elections continue to be a shitshow in a way that oddly benefits the party in charge. https://t.co/TMsCh3835K
— Sunny (@sunnyright) November 1, 2024

Activist Scott Presler, who's been organizing voter registration drives, said everyone waiting in line cast their ballot.