A Battleground County In A Battleground State

With a pandemic raging and in-person gatherings deemed unsafe, voting officials in Delaware County, Pennsylvania—a battleground county in a battleground state—were counting on remote-voting procedures to make the November presidential election safe, efficient, and fair.

Much was at stake. The volume of remotely-cast ballots was unprecedented, the world was watching, and threats of litigation had been swirling for months.

Before, during, and after Election Day, a team of Ballard Spahr attorneys beat back more than a half-dozen lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania state and federal courts. The suits challenged the ways people could vote without being present in-person. Mail-in voting required a substantial investment by Delaware County, including purchases of equipment like ballot drop boxes and a bulk mail sorting machine financed by a $2.2 million grant to the County from the Center for Technology and Civic Life, a nonprofit organization that provided grants on a