The 24-hour election dropbox slot at the Lehigh County Government Center in Allentown.
Julian Abraham
Judge tosses lawsuit, lets Lehigh County use election dropboxes as planned
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Hayden Mitman/WLVR
Julian Abraham
The 24-hour election dropbox slot at the Lehigh County Government Center in Allentown.
A Lehigh County judge has thrown out a lawsuit that sought in-person monitoring and other changes to ballot drop boxes in the county, saying such measures are too difficult and could cause confusion.
Judge Thomas Capehart on Tuesday handed down his opinion on the ongoing suit,which targeted the county Board of Elections. Capehart said the county proved that in-person monitoring of the dropboxes would be too difficult to prepare workers for and changes to dropbox procedures for which the county has already prepared could cause confusion for voters this close to Election Day.
- A judge has ruled against a lawsuit concerning how Lehigh County monitors and operates election dropboxes.
- Following the ruling, the county will deploy election dropboxes as soon as possible.
- The ruling found the county had followed state law and taken steps to protect election integrity.
“[The] Board has seen fit to take steps to protect election integrity and comply with Pennsylvania law,” Capehart wrote. “In doing so, it has made policy decisions with which the court will not interfere, such as the decision to use drop boxes, not employ manned dropboxes, as well as the decision regarding the location and available times for each dropbox.
“Where the law does not clearly dictate, the Court will not second guess the wisdom or efficacy of the Board’s policy decisions.”
Attorneys for the America First Legal Foundation — an advocacy group founded by former officials from the Trump administration who filed the suit — had fought for in-person monitoring of the county’s five dropboxes. That would be beyond 24-hour surveillance cameras already in place.
America First also wanted the county to limit use of a 24-hour dropbox, and wanted the sole 24-hour dropbox — located in the Lehigh County Government Center in Allentown — limited to “normal business hours.”
County Executive Phil Armstrong, in a statement to LehighValleyNews.com, said he was pleased with the decision.
“We are very happy with the Judge’s decision,” Armstrong said. “We have been working very hard at putting out correct voter information.”
The county halted deploying its election dropboxes while awaiting the decision, but Armstrong said its is working to deploy them throughout the county as soon as possible.
Lehigh County will have ballot dropboxes at:
- Lehigh County Government Center, 17 S. Seventh St., Allentown — a 24-hour dropbox outside the entrance.
- Whitehall Township Building, 3219 MacArthur Road, available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
- Lehigh County Authority Lobby, 1053 Spruce Road, Allentown, available on from 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. weekdays.
- Fountain Hill Borough Building, 941 Long Street, available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
- Macungie Borough Building, 21 Locust St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
Ballots also can be delivered in-person to the board of elections at Lehigh County Government Center, 17 S. Seventh St., Allentown, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mail-in ballots also can be sent through the U.S. Postal Service at any mailbox.
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