Pennsylvania

Mail ballot challenges are dropped in Pennsylvania shortly after Election Day

Published

1 year ago

November 9, 2024

Mail ballot challenges are dropped in Pennsylvania shortly after Election Day

A person drops off a mail-in ballot in October in Doylestown, Pa. Pennsylvania county officials received thousands of last-minute challenges to voters’ absentee ballot applications, most of which were withdrawn shortly after Election Day.

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Just days after Election Day, right-wing activists and two Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania withdrew the majority of last-minute challenges filed against voters’ mail ballot applications.

Around 77% of more than 4,400 challenges were withdrawn on Wednesday or Thursday, including in Allegheny, Bucks, Clinton, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster and Lehigh counties, NPR has confirmed. The removals come after more than 100 challenges were withdrawn on or before Election Day in Centre and Chester counties.

To voting rights groups and many of the affected voters, the withdrawal of more than 3,400 challenges coming right after a successful election for the GOP underscores that these formal objections to voter eligibility were baseless.

People wait in line to vote outside a polling station at the Dryland United Church of Christ in Nazareth, Pa., on Tuesday.

And all of the county election boards who have held emergency hearings to review the remaining challenges agreed that the challenges carried no weight. Since Nov. 1, officials have rejected more than 900 challenges in Beaver, Chester, Delaware, Lawrence, Lycoming, Washington and York counties.

Most of the challenges were filed days before Election Day and focused on the eligibility of U.S. citizens living abroad who are eligible to vote in federal elections in Pennsylvania under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, while a smaller group questioned the residency of registered voters in the U.S. based on change-of-address forms they filed with the U.S. Postal Service.

All of them, according to Matt Heckel, a Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson, were part of “bad-faith mass challenges” that have added extra pressure on election officials in 15 counties across the state who have been facing intense public scrutiny this year for another high-stakes election.

The withdrawal of the bulk of these challenges this week led election officials to cancel multiple public hearings they scrambled to add to calendars amid running polling sites, counting ballots and reporting results.

It’s not clear why Pennsylvania state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, a Republican who filed a total of 1,713 challenges to overseas voters’ ballot applications in Bucks and Lehigh counties — the largest batch of challenges — stood down on Wednesday, the day after Election Day. In a statement to NPR, Coleman said he remained concerned that county election officials “were not registering the voters who applied for a federal ballot as required by law.”

“I will continue to pursue the matter through legislative oversight and potential changes to Pennsylvania law that will clarify the current requirement for the registration of federal voters in our statewide voter registration system,” Coleman said.

Republican state Sen. Cris Dush voiced similar concerns during a hearing Tuesday before withdrawing challenges in Centre and Clinton counties.

County election officials, however, have maintained that they are properly entering these overseas voters into Pennsylvania’s system for managing voter rolls. Under federal law, these voters, who indicate on registration forms that their intent to return to the U.S. is uncertain, are eligible to cast ballots for federal elections in the district where they last lived in the United States.

Workers at the Wake County Board of Elections prepare to mail absentee ballots in September in Raleigh, N.C.

Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, says under state law, election officials cannot register these overseas voters as Pennsylvania voters so they are, instead, entered into a separate part of the registration database as federal voters.

These challenges, Walczak adds, were an “inappropriate” use of Pennsylvania’s legal process for contesting the eligibility of mail-in ballot voters.

“Whether this really was an effort to try to disenfranchise these individuals or whether it was intended to create chaos in elections systems and processing, which to some extent it did, or whether it’s designed to promote some kind of conspiracy theories about how the elections don’t work and how much chaos there is, it’s impossible to tell,” Walczak says. “Bottom line is these are meritless challenges that never should have been made, that inconvenienced thousands of voters and made it much more difficult for countless elections officials and workers to be able to do their jobs at a very difficult and stressful time.”

For Christine Dax, a challenged overseas voter who was born and raised in Lehigh County, Pa., it’s been a nerve-wracking week watching the controversy unfold from Melbourne, where she has lived for about seven years with her husband, who is Australian.

Dax learned about Sen. Coleman’s challenge to her mail-in ballot application through an email a county official sent on Election Day, more than a month after she received confirmation that her ballot was received in October.

“It was very confusing, and I was like, ‘Have I done something wrong? Have I filled something out wrong?’ ” explains Dax, who says she has voted in every election for which she’s been eligible.

After finding news articles reporting that other mail-in voters’ ballot applications had been challenged across Pennsylvania, Dax says it became clear to her that this was a “bogus attempt to suppress people’s votes.”

“It’s very clear that our votes are legal. It’s very clear that we’ve done nothing wrong,” Dax adds. “And it’s clear that they’re just using this as an insurance policy should their candidate not win. And it’s especially enraging because now that their preferred candidate has won, now it’s all gone away. It’s all, ‘No big deal. Business as usual. Hope everyone forgets.’ But I haven’t forgotten — definitely won’t be forgetting that.”

One challenger in Lawrence County, Pa., however, has indicated she is not prepared to move on.

During a hearing Friday before local election officials, Carrie Hahn, a county resident who submitted 52 challenges, explained that she was not questioning whether these voters have the right to vote, but whether or not they should be entered into Pennsylvania’s voter registration system.

“This was not a partisan issue when I filed it at all,” said Hahn, who noted she is “very involved” in the Lawrence County Republican Committee and learned after filing the challenges that the ballot applications she contested are “heavily weighted in the Democrats’ favor.”

Seconds after the three commissioners of the county’s election board unanimously denied all of the challenges, Hahn said she plans to appeal.

Edited by Benjamin Swasey

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Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania man charged after son brought loaded gun to school, DA says

Published

11 hours ago

April 13, 2026

Press Room

Pennsylvania man charged after son brought loaded gun to school, DA says

A Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, man was charged after his son went to school with his loaded gun, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office said Monday.

The DA’s office said Russell Matthews, 58, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering the welfare of a child.

East Pikeland Township Police responded to Hares Hill Elementary School on Monday at around 12:15 p.m. for the report of a student who brought a handgun to school.

At school, the student noticed the handgun inside their backpack and told a school counselor, according to the DA’s office. The student told officials that he recognized it and that it belonged to his father. The semiautomatic handgun was loaded with five rounds of ammunition, the DA’s office said.

Matthews told police that he put the gun in the wrong backpack, the DA’s office said.

Nobody was injured during the incident.

“We are grateful to the school officials and the East Pikeland Township Police Department who worked quickly to ensure that [Hares] Hill Elementary School is safe again,” Chester County District Attorney Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe said in a statement.

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Pennsylvania

Cynthia Ann Gargasz, Sharon, PA

Published

23 hours ago

April 13, 2026

Press Room

SHARON, Pa. (MyValleyTributes) – Cynthia Ann Gargasz, age 75, passed away peacefully, on Friday, April 10, 2026, surrounded by her family.

Cynthia was born on October 5, 1950, in Sharon, Pennsylvania, to Mary and Carl Spruk.

Cindy grew up in Farrell, Pennsylvania, where she attended Farrell High School and graduated from class of 1969. She went on to dedicate 30 years of hard work at Packard Electric before retiring.

Cindy found joy in simple comforts at home and maintaining her home and family. Throughout her life, she cared deeply for her animal friends and would always feed and nurture any additional critters that would cross her path. She loved sitting with a cup of coffee, watching the birds and welcoming visits from friends and family. She cherished gathering around the kitchen table for meals and conversation and was always adding simple touches to her space to make it feel more like home. She enjoyed hosting holidays, where everyone felt welcome. Cindy had an eye for style, enjoyed meeting up with friends and dancing the night away to good music. Most recently during her illness, she very much enjoyed trips to the corral drive-in, for vanilla ice cream and burger visits with family.

Cindy is preceded in death by her parents Mary and Carl Spruk; her sister, Carol Crisan; and her brother, Edward Spruk.

She is survived by her children, Frank (Reagan) Gargasz and Ashley Gargasz; her grandson, Jordan DeCarmen; her brother, Mark Spruk (Gretchen); and her nieces and great-nieces.

Per her wish, family and close friends may call on Tuesday April 14, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., in the Stephen J. Sherman Funeral Home

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at 12:00 p.m., in the funeral home, with Father James Power, officiating.

Burial will take place in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cemetery Hermitage, PA.

Arrangements entrusted to the SHERMAN Funeral Home & Crematory.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Cynthia Ann (Spruk) Gargasz, please visit our floral store.

A television tribute will air Tuesday, April 14, at the following approximate times: 6:47 a.m. on WYTV, 9:43 a.m. on WKBN, 10:58 a.m. on FOX and 8:12 p.m. on MyYTV. Video will be posted here the day of airing.

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Pennsylvania

Temperatures soar to the 80s this week; few shower chances

Published

1 day ago

April 12, 2026

Press Room

Temperatures soar to the 80s this week; few shower chances

Temperatures soar to the 80s this week across south-central Pennsylvania

Winds shifting to the southwest will pump in summerlike warmth this up coming week. Temperatures will challenge record highs and a few morning warmest low records.

PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS ON OUR WEBSITE AT WGAL.COM. AND RYAN, IF YOU’RE HEADING OUT TO LANCASTER RESTAURANT WEEK, IT SEEMS LIKE IT’S A GOOD DAY TO WALK TO THE RESTAURANT, SIT OUTSIDE, RIGHT? YEAH, TEMPERATURES ARE GOING TO BE GETTING INTO THE 70S AND INTO THE 80S, TOO. AS WE GET INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. WE COULD BE SEEING SOME NEAR RECORD WARMTH BY THE TIME WE GET TO OUR WEDNESDAY. BUT LEBANON SKY CAM AT THIS TIME HAD A FAIRLY NICE DAY. NOW WE’RE STARTING TO SEE SOME HIGH CLOUDS BEGIN TO MOVE IN, AND TEMPERATURES ARE SITTING RIGHT AROUND THE MID 60S AT THIS TIME, WITH A STIFF SOUTHERLY BREEZE. I WOULD SAY BETWEEN 10 AND 15MPH FOR MOST OF THE AREA. BUT WE’RE SEEING GENERALLY MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES ACROSS THE AREA, AND IT’S STILL GOING TO BE REMAINING MILD WITH BREEZY CONDITIONS AT TIMES. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO LOWER THROUGH THE 60S. AND THEN FOR THIS COMING WEEK, NEXT WEEK, SOARING TO THE 80S NEAR RECORD WARMTH. BY THE TIME WE GET TO OUR WEDNESDAY AND THEN THERE’S ONLY A FEW RAIN CHANCES OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS, IT’S GOING TO BE A MAINLY DRY STRETCH FOR THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY, SO BUT WE’LL BE WILL BE ENJOYING SOME SUNSHINE WITH A FEW. AGAIN, A FEW CHANCES OF SOME SHOWERS, BUT THEY’RE LOOKING MORE MINIMAL RIGHT NOW. TEMPERATURES TODAY HIT RIGHT AROUND 66 DEGREES AT HARRISBURG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 63 IS WHAT WE EXPECT FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. NO RAIN WAS RECORDED AT HARRISBURG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. SO FOR THE FORECAST FOR THE REST OF THIS EVENING, EXPECT INCREASING CLOUDS STILL MILD IN THE LOWER 60S AND BREEZY. WE’LL HAVE THOSE WINDS OUT OF THE SOUTH SOUTHEAST BETWEEN 10 AND 15MPH, THEN STILL BREEZY OVERNIGHT. COOLER DOWN INTO THE LOWER 50S, BUT WE’LL SEE MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS FOR THE FOR THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD. AND THEN WE’RE LOOKING AT A FEW AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS FOR TOMORROW. TEMPERATURES GETTING INTO THE UPPER 70S. BUT RESTAURANT WEEK, IT’S GOING TO BE IT’S GOING TO BE NICE THOUGH. TEMPERATURES INTO THE UPPER 70S A FEW AFTERNOON SHOWERS. I WOULDN’T CALL THE DAY A COMPLETE WASHOUT. FEELING LIKE JUNE FOR YOUR. TUESDAY 84 DEGREES AND THEN 86 NEAR RECORD WARMTH FOR OUR WEDNESDAY NOW. LATEST PRECIPITATION TOTALS WERE STILL BELOW AVERAGE FOR THE MONTH TO DATE, BUT IN TERMS OF SEASON TO DATE, WE’RE. WE’RE RIGHT AROUND PAR FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. SO ONLY ABOUT 17 HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH ABOVE WHAT WE EXPECT. BUT THAT’S RIGHT AROUND PAR. BUT POLLEN LEVELS FOR TOMORROW, HIGH FOR TREES AND GRASS MOLD LEVELS ARE LOW. AIR QUALITY WILL BE MODERATE IN A UV INDEX, 35 MINUTE BURN TIME. SO WE RATED THAT AS MODERATE FOR THE AFTERNOON AND THE TEMPERATURES STILL INTO THE 60S, BUT WE’RE INTO THE 70S FOR GETTYSBURG, CHAMBERSBURG AND LEWISTOWN AT THIS TIME WINDS OUT OF THE SOUTH. I’D SAY BETWEEN TO SEE THIS BETWEEN 15, ALMOST 20MPH IN SOME AREAS. STORM TEAM, LIVE RADAR NETWORK, NOT SEEING ANY SHOWERS, JUST REALLY THE SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWING SOME OF THE UPPER LEVEL CLOUDS THAT ARE MOVING THROUGH. BUT WE STILL HAVE HIGH PRESSURE THAT’S HELPING TO KEEP OUR SKIES CLEAR BEFORE THIS WARM FRONT STARTS TO MOVE THROUGH AND CONTINUES TO INCREASE OUR CLOUD COVER AND BECOME MOSTLY CLOUDY FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE DAY MONDAY. BUT NOW HERE COMES THIS BOUNDARY THAT’S GOING TO START TO SHIFT THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON FOR MONDAY. THAT’S GOING TO BRING THAT CHANCE OF SHOWERS INTO THE AREA. GIVE US A FEW OF THOSE SHOWERS. THEN WE’LL START TO CLEAR. BY THE TIME WE GET TO OVERNIGHT MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. NOW WE ARE WATCHING A CHANCE OF SOME SHOWERS FOR EARLY IN THE DAY. TUESDAY I WOULD SAY MID TO LATE MORNING, A STRAY SHOWER CHANCE AND ALSO WITH A SERIES OF FRONTS NEARBY AND ALSO WITH THAT AVAILABLE HEAT, WE MAY SEE A CHANCE OF A STORM OR TWO FOR LATE TUESDAY, SOMETHING WE’RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO KEEP AN EYE ON FOR TUESDAY. BUT CERTAINLY THE STORY FOR THE WEEK IS THAT IT’S GOING TO BE FEELING LIKE JUNE, FEELING VERY MUCH LIKE SUMMER. YOU CAN SEE TEMPERATURES GETTING INTO THE MID 80S. WE COULD POTENTIALLY BE RIGHT NEAR THAT RECORD MARK. THE RECORD IS 87 DEGREES. BACK IN 1941 FOR WEDNESDAY, SOMETHING THAT WE’RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO WATCH AS WE HEAD INTO THE WEEK. LOOKING AHEAD INTO THE END OF THE WEEK, NOT AS WARM, STI

Temperatures soar to the 80s this week across south-central Pennsylvania

Winds shifting to the southwest will pump in summerlike warmth this up coming week. Temperatures will challenge record highs and a few morning warmest low records.

Updated: 6:38 PM EDT Apr 12, 2026

Editorial Standards ⓘ

After a sunny & mild day, cloud cover is beginning to increase across the area and temperatures will start to lower through the low 60s this evening. Tonight, expect mostly cloudy skies as a warm front moves through the area overnight. Lows will bottom out in the lower 50s. It will remain breezy through the night.Monday highs jump into the mid to upper 70s. Southwesterly winds bring in more cloud cover, and a few afternoon showers can’t be ruled out, so it’s worth keeping an eye to the sky if you’re outside. Rainfall amounts expected around 0.10” northwest of Harrisburg, with less than 0.05” elsewhere.We flip the switch to early summer with highs soaring into the mid 80s Tuesday through Thursday. We will challenge records on Wednesday. Forecast is 86 and the record is 87 set in 1941. Morning lows will be warmer than afternoon average highs Thursday. You’ll notice an uptick in humidity with dew points near 60°. Not oppressive by any means, but enough to make it feel a bit sticky, especially in the afternoons. Other than a late shower or thunderstorm Tuesday and a couple late showers Thursday night, rain chances remain low so great weather for outdoor plans.Temperatures briefly fall back to near 80° on Friday. It’s still warm and pleasant. That tranquil weather continues into the start of the weekend with summerlike weather continuing. Highs are in the low 80s. The next cold front comes in on Sunday with the chance for showers. This system is a game changer and will bring temperatures back to the 60s by Monday.Have a good rest of your Sunday!~ Ryan

After a sunny & mild day, cloud cover is beginning to increase across the area and temperatures will start to lower through the low 60s this evening.

Tonight, expect mostly cloudy skies as a warm front moves through the area overnight. Lows will bottom out in the lower 50s. It will remain breezy through the night.

Monday highs jump into the mid to upper 70s. Southwesterly winds bring in more cloud cover, and a few afternoon showers can’t be ruled out, so it’s worth keeping an eye to the sky if you’re outside. Rainfall amounts expected around 0.10” northwest of Harrisburg, with less than 0.05” elsewhere.

We flip the switch to early summer with highs soaring into the mid 80s Tuesday through Thursday. We will challenge records on Wednesday. Forecast is 86 and the record is 87 set in 1941. Morning lows will be warmer than afternoon average highs Thursday. You’ll notice an uptick in humidity with dew points near 60°. Not oppressive by any means, but enough to make it feel a bit sticky, especially in the afternoons. Other than a late shower or thunderstorm Tuesday and a couple late showers Thursday night, rain chances remain low so great weather for outdoor plans.

Temperatures briefly fall back to near 80° on Friday. It’s still warm and pleasant. That tranquil weather continues into the start of the weekend with summerlike weather continuing. Highs are in the low 80s. The next cold front comes in on Sunday with the chance for showers. This system is a game changer and will bring temperatures back to the 60s by Monday.

Have a good rest of your Sunday!

~ Ryan

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