Long lines, some confusion on final day for 'on-demand' voting in Bucks County
DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Bucks County voters waited in long lines to take advantage of on-demand voting after a lawsuit forced the county to extend the mail-in voting deadline.
"I thought, 'What a great opportunity to take advantage of,'" said Brian Hensel, who waited over an hour in line at the Bucks County Administrative Building in Doylestown.
Hensel said after missing the original October 29 deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot, he was happy to take care of the process before Election Day.
"We were all talking about it. It's kind of like being at an amusement park and you get to know the people in line," he said.
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He's one of hundreds of people in Bucks County who took advantage of extra time to vote on demand.
That meant voters could apply for, receive, fill out, and return their mail-in ballots in one trip.
It's different than voting in person, on a machine on Election Day.
"He said, 'Are you voting in person today?'" said Christine Chianese from New Hope of her experience in line. "I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Fill this out.'"
Chianese filled out her mail ballot application while waiting in line.
The process had caused some confusion.
"I'm still going to do it," said Chianese.
The original deadline for Pennsylvania to apply for a mail ballot was 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The Trump campaign later sued Bucks County, accusing officials of turning voters away before that deadline.
There appeared to be confusion over whether you had to be in line by 5 p.m. or if your application needed to be processed by 5 p.m.
A judge sided with the Trump campaign and extended the deadline in Bucks County, leading to long lines at both the county satellite centers in Levittown, Quakertown, and the main office in Doylestown.
In Levittown, one man told Action News he waited in line for three to four hours, maybe longer.
"We were told it was two and a half hours from back there and it's been almost three and a half and we're probably still an hour away," George Schott from Yardley said while waiting in line.
Charimember of the Bucks County Republican Committee Pat Poprik said the reason why this satellite center had such an extensive wait was due to a combination of the limited space and only having one printer.
"These printers are special sent by the state. They can only print ballots one at a time," Poprik explained. "The lack of enough supplies and that printer is a real problem. Doylestown had two."
Voters said they all had their own reasons for opting for mail-in ballots.
"I've always voted on Election Day, I firmly believe in that, but this year I volunteered to be a poll watcher," said Matthew Tevnan from Warrington.
"We decided to come out together and put our votes in early," Swati Kaushik said of her and her family. "We were hoping it's a smaller line but it's not."
The open county offices also gave mail voters a chance to work out issues before Election Day.
Kelly Durie says she returned her ballot two weeks ago, but it was never processed.
"Both of our ballots have not been received yet even though we handed them to a person behind glass in this building," said Durie.
Bucks County officials said anyone who was in line by the end of the business day -- that was 5 p.m. at the county offices in Doylestown and 4:30 p.m. at the satellite offices in Levittown and Quakertown -- had the opportunity to vote on demand.
Volunteers and election workers stayed well into the evening to accommodate voters and help them with the process.
The deadline to return a mail-in ballot is by 8 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday, November 5.
