NAACP sues Pennsylvania over primary election access issues

Citing long lines at polls on primary day in Eastern Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Conference of the NAACP is suing the state, seeking to ensure additional protections for voter access are in place in time for the November presidential election.

The suit, filed Thursday in Commonwealth Court, charges the state’s decision to allow counties to consolidate polling places in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and a shortage of poll workers “created the perfect storm for depriving Pennsylvania citizens of their fundamental right to vote in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis,” and the decision violated the Free and Equal Elections clause of the state constitution.

The lawsuit that cited long lines and unequal access in some counties, where officials reduced the number of polling places by as much as 80%, also listed issues with sanitizing touch screen voting machines and deadlines for announcing changes in polling places as well as concerns about mail-in ballots that were widely used across the state for the first time.

The NAACP is asking the court to intervene and order the Pennsylvania Department of State to address those issues immediately to forestall problems in November.