ALLENTOWN, Pa. — State Sen. Jarrett Coleman has challenged more than 500 mail-in ballot applications of former Lehigh County residents now living overseas, saying the county failed to register them in the statewide voter database.
Under federal law, Americans living abroad who no longer have a stateside address are allowed to vote in federal elections under their last address. The law is separate from the mail-in ballots used by members of the military and their families serving overseas.
But Coleman, R-Lehigh/Bucks, alleges the 519 voters voting utilizing the system in Lehigh County don't show up in SURE, Pennsylvania's federally mandated voter database.
"Essentially, we want their votes. I'd love for their votes to be counted. The counties need to register these voters as required by the UOCAVA law."State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh/Bucks
He and others filed similar challenges for another 3,800 voter applications across Pennsylvania on Friday minutes before the state deadline. In addition to the Lehigh County applications, Coleman also challenged 1,300 in Bucks County.
Senator seeks uniformity
In an interview Tuesday, Coleman said his goal was not to disenfranchise voters and that he is not targeting members of either party.
However, the state needs uniformity, he said. Only 11 of the 67 counties enter voters casting ballots through the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act into the SURE system, he said. Lehigh and Bucks counties do not.
He would be agreeable to dropping the challenges, he said, if the counties agreed to register them in the database.
"Essentially, we want their votes. I'd love for their votes to be counted," Coleman said. "The counties need to register these voters as required by the UOCAVA law."
However, Coleman could not offer a reason why he waited so long to file the challenges. He said he and others had been monitoring the registration practices for months. He also acknowledged that the Board of Elections could opt to resolve the issue by agreeing not to count the challenged ballots.
"In hindsight, we could have brought it sooner," he said. "I hope we can come to an agreement where we can count their votes and register [them]."
Lehigh County Executive Phil Armstrong said the Board of Elections will hold a hearing at 10:30 a.m. Friday to address the challenges. Overseas voters are being provided a Zoom link to participate virtually in the meeting. Those who can't attend are being invited to submit comments ahead of time.
A 'frivolous' request
In an email reviewed by LehighValleyNews.com, Lehigh County Chief Clerk of Elections Tim Benyo described the challenges as frivolous.
"The basis of this challenge is contradictory to federal law," he wrote.
Each challenge comes with a $10 fee, meaning Coleman will be on the hook for $5,190 in Lehigh County alone should he see the process through. However, the fee is waived if the challenges are withdrawn before the meeting. By then, the outcome of the federal elections should be clearer.
The challenges come days after a federal judge tossed a lawsuit brought by six Pennsylvania U.S. congressmen who argued the state needed to do more to establish the identities and eligibility of military and overseas ballots. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt successfully argued the six Republicans, including U.S. Reps. Dan Meuser and Scott Perry, had no grounds to sue and waited too close to Election Day to take action.
What's at stake
The Lehigh County hearing will come three days after what's shaping up to be an unusually close election in which Pennsylvania and Lehigh County could play an outsized role.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have each visited Allentown in the last week in hopes of convincing undecided voters and rallying supporters. The Lehigh Valley is a swing region that could determine who wins Pennsylvania's 19 electoral college votes.
Polls also show Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate and 7th Congressional District races are neck-and-neck. Republican challenger Dave McCormick is giving U.S. Sen. Bob Casey the first close political challenge. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, is locked in yet another tight election with state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh.
Lehigh County also has a reputation for nail-biter elections. In 2022, it took a lawsuit appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to determine that Democrat Zachary Cohen won a 2021 Lehigh County judicial race by just five votes over Republican David Ritter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
