1,000 Delaware County voters getting provisional ballots after challenge of registration forms

(Matt Rourke/AP Photo

(Matt Rourke/AP Photo

More than 1,000 Delaware County residents who filled out voter registration forms with the help of FieldWorks — a national grassroots organization with ties to the Democratic Party — will have to cast provisional ballots on Election Day.

Friday’s ruling followed a three-hour hearing before the Delaware County Voter Registration Commission. It comes a day after Republican officials questioned the validity of thousands of voter registration forms collected by FieldWorks and less than a week after state police raided one of the organization’s offices in Norwood.

Residents affected by the bipartisan commission’s ruling will fill out provisional ballots at their polling places on Election Day, but their votes will not be counted for few days after polls have closed.

The commission was initially slated to rule on the fates of more than 5,000 voter registration forms submitted by FieldWorks.

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Several thousand weren’t considered during the hearing because they were filled out for residents who were already registered to vote. Others contained addresses that don’t exist or were incomplete.

The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office announced Friday that it is investigating FieldWorks after discovering what it calls “a pattern of voter registration irregularities across the commonwealth.”

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