Democrat Zachary Cohen defeated Republican David Ritter by a mere five votes in a closely watched November 2021 race for a Lehigh County Court seat in which results were delayed because of a dispute over hundreds of undated mail-in ballots.
After the initial certification of 235 undated mail-in ballots Thursday, Cohen finished with 32,669 votes to Ritter’s 32,664. Ritter held a 71-vote lead over Cohen before the undated ballots were canvassed.
Originally, there were 257 undated mail-in ballots, but that decreased because the Lehigh County Board of Elections ruled that naked or provisional ballots would not be counted, according to Deputy Solicitor Sarah Murray. A naked ballot is one that does not come inside a secrecy envelope as required by state law.
The results, announced Thursday, will remain unofficial until final certification June 22, assuming the results aren’t challenged, Murray said.
The race was finally decided after the Board of Elections met Thursday to canvass the undated mail-in ballots that Ritter contested being counted shortly after the election last November.
“First and foremost, today’s my 21st wedding anniversary [with my wife Virginia], so I’m excited most about that,” Cohen said. “This comes in close second. I’m just grateful for the voters who voted for me, for my legal team … and just grateful for all the support I got. It’s exciting, still processing it. It’s a very good day.”
Ritter said he would consult with his legal team to see if there is any action left to pursue, including contesting these results.
“We’re disappointed in the results [Thursday],” he said. “I was in the lead since Election Night, and of course it’s disappointing to have this turn of events occur, but I’m going to keep my head high and talk it over with my team.”
The dispute began when the election board in November voted to count undated mail-in ballots, contrary to the provisions of state law. That put Ritter’s 71-vote lead in jeopardy because Democrats have used the mail-in option much more than Republicans.
Cohen received 136 votes from the disputed mail-in ballots counted Thursday, and Ritter received 60 votes. The other ballots did not include votes for either Cohen or Ritter.
There were three seats open on the bench. Republicans Tom Caffrey and Tom Capehart won the first two spots, but Ritter and Cohen were locked in a battle for the third and final spot. Democrats Maraleen Shields and Rasheed Santiago were also in the race.
A period of court actions and limbo led to a federal appeals court ruling May 20 that held that a requirement that mail-in ballots be dated by voters was immaterial.
Ritter filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to stay that decision, arguing that the court had misapplied a federal law against meaningless obstacles to voting. The required declarations on the outside of the return envelope do not prevent voters from casting ballots but determines the validity of the ballots, he argued. Voters whose ballots were undated did not follow directions, his filing said.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who is assigned to decide emergency petitions from Pennsylvania, issued a one-line order May 31 to halt the enforcement of the federal appeals court ruling.
In a split 6-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled that election officials can count mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania that lack a handwritten date but were received in time. Alito warned in a dissent that the issue could affect the November elections.