An Important Legal Win for Pennsylvania Voters, and Hopefully a Notice for the Rest of the Country

It’s a new American tradition that ahead of nearly every election, Democrats and their allies in the corporate media accuse Republicans of voter suppression. These allegations are often untethered from reality, but they continue with regularity, nonetheless. For example, before the 2022 midterm election, President Joe Biden accused Georgia Republicans of bringing back “Jim Crow 2.0”-style racist voter suppression that earned him a whopping four Pinocchios from the Left-leaning Washington Post.

Despite the Washington Post fact-check, similar accusations abound whenever Republican state officials attempt to enact voter integrity laws to clean up voter rolls, tighten balloting procedures, and otherwise protect the American people’s confidence in our electoral system.

But Democrats and the Left are silent in light of actual voter suppression that happened in the 2022 election, when many Pennsylvanians in Luzerne County showed up to vote in the morning, only to be told there were no more paper ballots available to cast their votes.

At least 40 polling places did not have the minimum number of ballots required by state law. When paper ballots ran out shortly after voting began, election officials and poll workers directed voters to come back later.

Some voters were improperly directed to vote via provisional ballot, which are only used when election officials cannot verify an individual’s qualifications to vote.

The Court of Common Pleas took the extraordinary measure of keeping the polls open until 10:00 PM after finding that “[v]oters in Luzerne County through no fault of their own, were disenfranchised and denied the fundamental right to vote.”

William French is a disabled U.S. Army veteran who attempted to vote at his polling place twice on Election Day. Both times, he was told to return later because there were no ballots available. French was unable to return to his polling place for a third time due to the risks associated with navigating the route from his house to the polling place at night.

Melynda Anne Reese is the primary caregiver for her husband, who recently suffered serious health issues. As a result, Reese is unable to leave him unattended for extended periods of time. Reese attempted to vote three times on Election Day. Each time, she was told to return later because there were not enough ballots available. Reese was contacted at 9:15 PM to let her know that ballots were finally available, but she could not leave her husband unattended to attempt to vote for a fourth time.

The very simple matter of providing enough paper for ballots apparently fell by the wayside, resulting in disenfranchised voters in a swing state and a potential swing county.

Where was Biden to cry voter suppression? Where was the Democrats’ unlimited dark money-funded election law consigliere, Marc Elias, to file a case? The fact is the Left and Democrats did not care, as most of the affected voters in Luzerne County were Republicans. 

The Center for Election Confidence (CEC) funded a lawsuit by French and Reese against Luzerne County for depriving them of the right to vote and to make sure such failures at the ballot box are not repeated in 2024, or ever again.

After 18 months of legal action, Luzerne County agreed to a court settlement under French v. County of Luzerne and agreed to pay $30,000 in legal fees in addition to setting up a series of detailed policies and procedures to ensure proper material procurement and staff training before all subsequent elections.

The lawsuit was necessary because the problems of Luzerne County are not a one-off for Election Day ballot shortages. Similar “voting irregularities” occurred during the gubernatorial races in New Jersey in 2021 and Mississippi in 2023. In both cases, it was Republican voters who were impacted.  

Things are getting better. Unlike Luzerne County on Election Day 2022, Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Mississippi leaders fought back and received a partial solution on Election Day 2023. But this year, with more Republicans voting on Election Day than Democrats, expect the problem to happen again somewhere else. This is one reason why President Trump and others are urging voters to vote early in person whenever possible.

Because of CEC’s legal victory in Luzerne County, counties and elections authorities are on notice that they will literally pay the price if they suppress votes. But don’t expect Democrats to care when it is not their voters who are being suppressed. 

So, what are Democrats doing now in light of election officials’ errors like those in Luzerne? Literally the same night the Luzerne County Council approved the settlement and admitted they suppressed votes, a liberal group parroted the Democrats and Left, calling for a new local ordinance to protect election officials from criticism.  

As a county in the most targeted state in the 2024 election, Luzerne serves as a microcosm for the country. 

The Left cries “voter suppression” as a political talking point but ignores real voter suppression when it doesn’t suit their interests. They don’t try to make the process more transparent, but instead try to make it impossible to critique election officials and improve the process. Thanks to RNLA members like CEC’s lawyer Wally Zimolong, they are starting to pay a price when they suppress the vote.  

Michael Thielen is president and executive director of the National Republican Lawyers Association. www.RNLA.org

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