Voter Services Center is open at Union’s stadium
CHESTER » Delaware County opened up what might its only Mobile PopUp Voter Services Center Friday as U.S. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5, and state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26, both of Swarthmore, were among the first to cast their mailin ballots.
Through today from noon to 6 p.m., voters can go to Subaru Park, home of the Philadelphia Union, to cast their mail-in ballot, request a mail-in ballot or voter registration application. The pop-up event went forward after two legal attempts, including one at the Commonwealth Court, from a group of county residents seeking an emergency injunction to stop the measure.
“I f ind it offensive frankly,” county Councilwoman Christine Reuther, who also serves as its liaison to the county Bureau of Elections, said about the injunction request and appeal. “I think it’s a waste of time and resources ... They realize that (Donald) Trump’s best chance is to suppress the vote.”
County Solicitor William F. Martin ensured voters that his stance that votes cast during the three-day event are valid as evident by the court’s decision.
“While it is in Chester, it’s obviously convenient to every resident of the county to get here readily through the highway network,” he said, adding that it was part of an effort to make voting accessible.
He added that the Union stadium location was chosen because of its outdoornature and its size, at a time when COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts lean towards outdoor events and six-feet social distancing among people. “There was no consideration given to the partisan makeup of the location,” Martin said of the heavily Democratic city, adding that because of COVID, it’s been difficult to find sizable locations for such public events on private properties.
Scanlon and Kearney separately cast their ballots at the Pop-Up Voter Service Center - and they shared why they chose to do so besides the ease of doing so.
“The mail-in ballot thing is this new thing,” the senator said. “I think it was important for us to show how easy it is to do and how confident we are in that it’s going to be counted, that it’s going to work. Delco has done an amazing job preparing to count these things.”
Kearney said it’s up to Harrisburg to allow for precanvassing of these ballots, adding that either way, Delaware County is ready with three shifts of workers to count the votes starting at 7 a.m. Election Day in a process that’s anticipated to take 48 hours.
Scanlon added, “Obviously, the president and the attorney general of the United States have been casting doubt on our mailin ballots. I have talked with the county people, I’ve talked with national experts. Mail-in voting is safe and secure and we cannot rig an election using fake mail-in ballots. It’s just impossible ... In addition to actually showing people how easy it is and that we have faith in it, just trying to undercut that disinformation that’s coming from Russia and that’s unfortunately coming from the White House.”
Laureen Hagan, chief clerk of the Elections Bureau, said the office had received 130,000 mail-in ballot applications to date out of more than 400,000 registered voters. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 27.
Reuther said, “Fortunately, I guess, it’s an all new election. Everything about this election is new. We have new machines. We have vote-by-mail for the first time. It’s been a tremendous lift.”
Changes in election law, particularly through Act 77, paved the way for paperbased voting system, which resulted in the county purchasing the Hart Verity 2.3.4 voting system for this election. It also allowed for an expanded mail-in ballot procedure by creating noexcuse voting by mail.
Reuther thanked the myriads of county staff for their work in this election, which has only been made more challenging by the pandemic.
“I’ve heard (Election Bureau Director) Marianne Jackson say more than once, ‘ An election is a team sport,’” she said. “And it really only happens because everybody comes together and makes it happen.”
On Friday, county residents Mark Carroll, Jodi Diamond, Matthew Dadich, Stephanie Leone, Gloria Brazell, Karen Elliot, Wendy Willauer and Leah Hoopes filed a request for an emergency injunction against the Delaware County Board of Elections and the county
Bureau of Elections. They cited a violation of the Sunshine Act as the motion to approve the three-day event was not a listed item on the Oct. 7 Board of Elections agenda.
County Common Pleas Court Judge Spiros E. Angelos Jr. issued an order denying the request for an emergency injunction, allowing the event to go forward. However, he also instructed the ballots collected during the three-day event to be secured and instructed both attorneys to be ready for an appeal.
Late Friday, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson addressed an appeal by the plaintiffs seeking the injunction to stop the event. Simpson ruled in favor of Angelos’ decision, allowing the mobile center to proceed.
“This lawsuit is ridiculous,” Reuther said, noting how hard county staff - many of whom are Republican - are working on this election. “They are doing a great job and they are working their tails off. It is a monumental insult to the seriousness in which they take their job.”
Martin said the votes would be secured, as per the county judge’s order pending any appeal efforts on the part of the petitioners.
“I’m enormously confident, based upon what we’ve seen from the trial judge, that no Commonwealth or state Supreme Court ruling would result in any disallowance of the ballots that were cast here,” he said.
After the issue was ordered, Martin said, “The county is gratified by the judge’s decision. It will allow Delaware County voters the opportunity to visit Subaru Park this weekend, and register to vote or request or drop off a mail-in ballot, or complete the entire voting process in one visit. I am disappointed that there remain undemocratic players, who continue to file baseless litigation, as part of their ongoing voter suppression efforts. Delaware County
“This lawsuit is ridiculous. They are doing a great job and they are working their tails off. It is a monumental insult to the seriousness in which they take their job.”
— County Councilwoman Christine Reuther
government will continue working, so all properly registered voters have every legal opportunity to cast their ballot, whether via the U.S. mail, or at a voter service site, or at their local poll on Election Day.”
Delaware County Republican Party Chairman Tom McGarrigle also issued a statement after the injunction was denied, saying, “Democrats on Delaware County Council, using government resources, are improperly attempting to influence the election by boosting turnout in specific geographic locations with high concentrations of registered Democratic voters. Their decision to setup a pop-up voting location in the one municipality that has the highest percentage of registered Democrats reeks of electioneering. In addition, their actions to approve this – without any advance notice to the public and without any ability from local residents to offer public comment — is a clear violation of Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. It is abundantly clear that their actions should be prohibited under state law and it is troubling that Judge Angelos is permitting this illegal scheme to proceed at this time.”
This election has seen legal challenges from a variety of sides. Printing of the ballot was delayed as litigation was pursued up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Since then, the ballots have been mailed out and voters have a variety of ways to return them.
First, they must fill out the ballot.
Voters are asked to use a black or blue pen and shade in the complete box of their choice of candidate. Then, they put that ballot inside a secrecy envelope and seal it. Then, the secrecy envelope must be placed into the postage-paid return envelope. After sealing the return envelope, voters must sign it.
They then can mail it through the United States Postal Service or take it to one of several ballot drop boxes throughout the county. County officials said the 32 boxes will installed by Tuesday, giving voters two weeks to submit their ballot. It is the county’s intent to have the drop box interactive map operative sometime this week. However, the map can be seen on the county web page at
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There are also two satellite voter centers including Chester City Hall, 1 E. Fourth St. in Chester, and on the fourth floor of the county’s Human Services building at 20 S. 69th St. in Upper Darby. Another is in the Government Center at 201 W. Front St. in Media. The hours of these locations can be found at delcopa.gov at Delco Votes.
Voters are welcome to call an election hotline at
610-891-VOTE (8683) from
8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. There, a phone bank of trained personnel can answer calls with issues such as voter registration, mailin ballots, polling places and ballot boxes.