A judge quickly issued a ruling on Wednesday in favor of the Trump campaign in a lawsuit in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, extending early on-demand voting in the purple, populous county until Friday.
Judge Jeffrey Trauger, who was appointed to the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas by former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, wrote in a one-page order that election officials in the county wrongly turned away voters who were waiting in line for on-demand mail-in ballots, a violation of Pennsylvania’s election code.
The Trump campaign, along with the Republican National Committee and Republican Senate candidate David McCormick’s campaign, filed a complaint Wednesday morning alleging that several voters were turned away at Bucks County election offices in recent days “because of long lines and closing of sites earlier than posted hours.”
Trauger responded within hours to extend the on-demand voting option, which allows eligible voters to pick up a mail-in ballot and cast it in person.
Bucks County is a closely watched county in a top battleground state. Former President Donald Trump narrowly lost the county in the last two elections, by a 4-point margin in 2020 and less than a 1-point margin in 2016.
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said during a press call Wednesday that the lawsuit was not intended to help Republicans more than Democrats and that he does not know which party will benefit more from the judge’s ruling.
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“When you tell people that they need to leave, that they should not vote while it is legal for them to vote, that is extraordinarily problematic,” Whatley said. “I don’t know and I don’t care whether that was disproportionately affecting Republicans or Democrats.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Pennsylvania secretary of state’s office for comment.
Read the judge’s order here:
