It took 232 days, but there is finally a winner in the 2021 general election judicial contest in Lehigh County. Former Lehigh County Bar Association President Zachary Cohen, a Democrat, has won the third judicial seat that was being contested in that election by a mere five votes over Allentown attorney David Ritter, a Republican. Both had cross-filed.

This was one of three high-profile elections that remained unsettled long after the polls closed. The other two were byproducts of the 2022 primaries. In one, veteran legislator and chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, lost by just 19 votes in the GOP primary to newcomer and Parkland School Board member Jarrett Coleman in the new 16th District, which, following reapportionment, includes parts of Lehigh and Bucks counties. In the other, involving the Democratic primary for the 14th Senate District, Allentown School Board Vice President Nick Miller defeated Northampton County Council member Tara Zrinski by just 40 votes. The district includes parts of Northampton and Lehigh counties, including Walnutport and Lehigh Township.

Taking these three contests together, just 64 votes separated the candidates among 117,024 ballots cast. So you can see by this dramatic statistic how important your vote is.

The long slog to get to a winner in the judicial race involved lawsuits concerning mail-in ballots. The issue centered on 257 of these disputed ballots which lacked the mandatory handwritten date on the outer envelope. All of the ballots had been received on time. When Ritter learned the Election Board planned to count these ballots, he asked the county Court of Common Pleas to intervene.

The local judge ruled that the ballots should be counted, but Ritter appealed to Commonwealth Court, which disagreed and said the ballots should not be counted. This decision was appealed to the state Supreme Court, which decided not to hear the case, meaning that it was agreeing with the lower state court.

The American Civil Liberties Union, acting in conjunction with five county voters, filed a federal lawsuit asking that the disputed ballots be counted, but the U.S. Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania rejected the motion. This led the ACLU to appeal to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that by not counting the 257 ballots it was tantamount to disenfranchising these voters for what the ACLU said was a minor technicality. This court agreed and ruled the ballots should be counted.

Ritter at this point asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the count, which was delayed temporarily, but a few days later the full court declined to hear the case, so the ballots were counted on June 16, and Ritter’s 71-vote lead before the count of the disputed ballots turned into a five-vote defeat.

A disappointed Ritter said he used every available tool to defend his rights and the rights of those who voted for him. He declined further appeals in his concession statement, saying that it was important for the county to have its 10th judge.

In November 2021, Thomas Caffrey and Thomas Capehart won the two top spots in the judicial election, and they have been serving on the Lehigh County bench for the past six months.

Although Zrinski lost her Senate contest, she and her attorney were able to get both counties’ officials to make substantial changes to election procedures as part of a legal deal made to settle a lawsuit they filed that identified 260 ballots without security envelopes or those not received by Election Day even though they were mailed on time. As part of the agreement, these ballots were not tallied in the recent primary.

Attorney Matthew Mobilio said that although this election is not affected, the agreement was a “huge victory for the voters of Lehigh and Northampton counties.” Mobilio said that while the settlement does not solve all of the voting issues, “we believe this is a huge step in the right direction and hopefully the General Assembly will use the recent voter lawsuits as the impetus for major voting reform in Harrisburg.”

Zrinski said that “improving the vote by mail process and ensuring greater access to the ballot box in future elections, is what is most important to me.”

Among the changes, voters who submitted “naked ballots,” those without security envelopes, will be notified through the on-site party or candidate representative if the error is discovered before 8 p.m. on Election Day, the time the polls close. Another is exploring changing the secrecy envelope to a more conspicuous color than white so it stands out from other materials provided to voters with their mail-in ballots.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.