PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s top elections official and her office knowingly misled voters multiple times this month when they said adding special elections for City Council seats to the November ballot did not delay mail ballots being sent to voters.
With critical elections for governor and U.S. Senate looming, voters casting ballots by mail have been eager to receive and return them as early as possible. And Philadelphia was poised to have ballots out earlier than ever, sending them to voters on the very first day state law allows. That timeline was in fact pushed twice following decisions by the Council president to call special elections for seats left vacant by lawmakers who resigned to run for mayor next year. City Commissioner Lisa Deeley’s office has previously acknowledged those delays.
But as officials received some blowback from Democrats for the delays, Deeley and her office began to spin a new narrative, contradicting facts that it’s her job to know as chair of the city’s elections board — facts she herself acknowledges when pressed. Deeley’s statements denying a delay were demonstrably untrue; she and her office made them multiple times; and she clearly knew the truth at the time, as she gave accurate answers when pressed.
