Five for Friday: Election Complexion

If there was an election homestretch, now is when it hits high gear. With less than a month away from the November election, campaigns, candidates and canvassers are out and about in the commonwealth – arguably the most important battleground state in the pivotal presidential election. 

With a collection of election events happening across the Keystone State, City & State has a recap of the election-related news you may have missed this week. Here’s your Five For Friday, October election edition.

Trump stumps in Scranton

The former president campaigned in the hometown of the current president, with Donald Trump holding a rally at Riverfront Sports in Scranton on Wednesday. In his second visit to the region in the past two months, Trump spoke about workers including firefighters, Teamsters and United Auto Workers. 

However, after several attendees were seen holding signs stating “Scranton Firefighters for Trump,” the International Association of Firefighters union and its Local 60 chapter clarified they haven’t made an endorsement in the presidential race and that none of the sign-holding attendees were in fact Scranton firefighters. 

Obama pitches voters in Pittsburgh

Elsewhere in the commonwealth, another former president was on the campaign trail. Barack Obama made a pitch to Black voters on Thursday when campaigning with Democrats in the Steel City. In the surprise stop, Obama said energy around the election is not the same compared to when he was running in 2008, adding that apprehension among Black voters “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”

Obama pitched Vice President Kamala Harris as a candidate that “grew up like you,” as opposed to Trump “who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person.”

Case for curing ballots

Lawsuits over election operations and ballot approval continue in the commonwealth even weeks before Election Day. The state Supreme Court on Saturday declined to hear a lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee and commonwealth affiliate over “notice and cure” procedures, dealing a blow to Republicans who sought to block the practice of allowing voters to resolve minor issues with an incorrectly filled out ballot envelope. 

But in another ruling, the state Supreme Court sided with Republicans, declining to hear a case brought by voting rights groups against a state requirement that requires mail-in ballots to have the correct date in order to be counted. 

The court said that while prohibiting “notice and cure” would prevent local officials from facilitating voter participation, the incorrect date case brought by Democrats was too close to the upcoming election. 

Maligned military ballots

You can add another ballot-related case to the election beat too. Six Republican members of Congress are suing the Pennsylvania Department of State, arguing that ballots from voters overseas – including members of the U.S. military – are susceptible to fraud because they are not subject to the same ID requirements applied to absentee voters within the U.S. 

None of the six Pennsylvania congress members voted to certify the 2020 election results, according to the Inquirer, and the lawyers working with them were involved in efforts to contest the results following the 2020 presidential election. The federal suit, filed late last month, seeks to segregate the overseas absentee ballots pending verification of voters’ identities and detailed guidance from state election officials on how verification will be conducted. 

The Pennsylvania Department of State says it complies with state and federal law on the matter and called the lawsuit a “bad-faith argument” aimed at preventing thousands of Pennsylvania voters’ ballots, including those of service members, from being counted.

Harris town hall to take place of debate

In place of a second presidential debate between Trump and Harris, the vice president has agreed to participate in a town hall with CNN on Oct. 23 in Pennsylvania. Harris’ campaign announced the town hall Thursday amid ongoing discussions over each candidates’ media appearances and interviews. 

Trump recently declined an interview with “60 Minutes” and has accused CBS of editing its interview with Harris in a favorable manner. Meanwhile, each candidate has appeared on podcasts and non-traditional media, with Trump appearing on comedian Andrew Schulz’ podcast and Harris appearing on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.