Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is suing the Philadelphia County Board of Elections in an attempt to place campaign poll watchers in satellite election offices the city has set up for residents to register to vote and to request, complete and return a mail-in ballot, in-person.
The 14-page lawsuit, filed last week, names three Philadelphia County Board of Elections commissioners as defendants: Chairperson Lisa Deeley, Al Schmidt and Omar Sabir.
The Trump campaign claims that the Board of Elections and its commissioners unlawfully denied campaign representatives access to new satellite election offices the city opened on Sept. 29. The city planned to open seven of 15 satellite election offices on Sept. 29, where Philadelphians are able to vote seven days a week ahead of Election Day, Nov. 3.
The complaint was filed two days after Trump, in a combative debate performance with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday night, warned that “bad things happen in Philadelphia,” referring to the situation with the poll watchers. And it comes amid a volley of questionable statements by the president that expanded mail-in voting efforts in Pennsylvania in response to the coronavirus pandemic would lead to widespread voter fraud.
According to the lawsuit, the Trump campaign sent representatives who were “qualified registered electors of Philadelphia County” to observe operations of the satellite election offices and observe voters as they cast their ballots.
The watchers “did not attempt to enter any non-public spaces within the satellite election offices, nor interfere with the voting process in any way, nor mark or alter any official election record,” the lawsuit alleges. It doesn’t state how many campaign representatives appeared or which offices they visited.
In addition to sending representatives in person, campaign lawyers sent a written request to Philadelphia City Commissioners seeking “watcher certificates for duly qualified electors” as well as the right to have watchers in the satellite election offices. Alternatively, the campaign requested access to public, taxpayer funded spaces, according to its lawsuit.
However, the Philadelphia Law Department refused entry to the campaign representatives and instead offered “a single tour” of the satellite offices “to see how they operate,” the Trump campaign alleges.
The campaign contends that the absence of poll watchers, and specifically watchers who are representatives of the Trump campaign, “threatens the integrity of the vote.”
“While transparency and accountability are hallmarks of election integrity, the actions of Philadelphia election officials to date have undermined election integrity by shrouding the casting of ballots in secrecy,” lawyers for the campaign argued.
City officials, election lawyers and the state’s top elections official, meanwhile, say that Pennsylvania law doesn’t permit certified poll watchers, or anyone for that matter, to watch voters register or fill out mail-in ballots, CBS3 in Philadelphia reported.
According to officials, the rights of certified campaign representatives are limited to observing voting at a polling place on Election Day or the opening of absentee and mail-in ballots in an election office, CBS3 reported.
Furthermore, the satellite election offices are not considered polling places and poll watcher certificates have not been issued for any individuals for anything other than poll-watching activities on Election Day at polling places, City Commissioner Al Schmidt, one of the three defendants in the lawsuit, said in a statement according to CBS3.
Plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment that defendants violated the rights of its representatives. They are also asking the court for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction requiring defendants to allow campaign representatives to enter and remain in the satellite election offices to serve as a watchers.
The plaintiff is represented by Linda A. Kerns of the Law Offices of Linda A. Kerns, LLC, and Ronald L. Hicks, Jr. and Carolyn B. McGee of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP.
The Trump Campaign Mail-in Vote Site Lawsuit is Donald J. Trump for President Inc. v Philadelphia County Board of Elections, et al., Case No. 200902035, in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
Trump Tests Positive for COVID-19 as Worldwide Death Toll Passes 1M Mark
How Long Can You Collect LTD Benefits?
Alabama Voters’ ‘So Help Me God’ Oath Challenged In Lawsuit
Ethicon Stapler Lawsuit Claims Device Caused Surgical Complications
One thought on Trump Campaign Lawsuit Seeks Access to Philly Satellite Election Offices
add me