PHILADELPHIA _ On the eve of the election, Delaware County Democrats asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to order the county to allow 1,160 people _ registered to vote by a grass-roots group that is under investigation _ to cast unchallenged, conventional ballots at voting machines on Tuesday.
The petition follows Friday's decision by the bipartisan Voter Registration Committee to permit those voters, along with several thousand others, to vote only by provisional ballot.
However, Democrats contended, since a provisional ballot would be subject to disqualification, it "is not a legally acceptable alternative to the casting of a regular ballot."
Among the arguments they presented to the court _ where Democrats hold a 5-2 majority _ were that by waiting until Friday to rule, the county election commission violated a Pennsylvania law requiring that such action be taken at least 10 days before Election Day.
"Less than five days before an historic, high-stakes election, the Republican-controlled Delaware County government is trying to rob 1,160 innocent people of their sacred right to have their vote counted," said county Democratic Party chief David Landau.
County election officials weren't available for comment immediately.
Friday's decision by the election panel followed raids by state police raided of two FieldWorks LLC offices, searching for evidence of voter-registration fraud.
After the first raid in Norwood, Delaware County Republicans questioned the legitimacy of thousands of registrations submitted by FieldWorks, alleging many were incomplete or possibly fraudulent.
It was not known how many of the registrations would have been Democratic. However, FieldWorks, a national firm, works mostly with Democrats.
