. Contesting election results in Pennsylvania. To contest an election is a more arduous process in Pennsylvania than in many other states. In the case of a presidential or senate election, 100 or more voters have to file a petition in state court within 20 days of the election, with at least five of them submitting affidavits that allege, in good faith, that they have reason to believe the election was “illegal and the return thereof not correct.” (Other congressional elections require a petition backed by 20 voters.)
The affidavit requirement aims to avoid frivolous election contests, because it requires voters to swear that they have a good faith basis for contesting an outcome. After the 2016 election, for example, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein managed to organize enough voters to contest the election — alleging “grave concerns about the integrity of electronic voting machines” and claiming, without evidence, that they had been hacked — but, tellingly, no voter was willing to swear out an affidavit to that effect.