An Erie County Court of Common Pleas judge on Thursday is hearing testimony over the lawsuit filed against the Erie County Board of Elections over numerous issues related to mail-in voting due to one of its vendors.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party, which filed the lawsuit, said the "issues have caused registered voters substantial delays and hardships and could possible violate the right to vote."

The hearing started with testimony from county clerk Karen Chillcott who walked through the process of the ballot system and the elections department's relationship with its vendor Election IQ, which was responsible for printing and sending out the mail-in ballots.

The elections office later learned 296 duplicate ballots were sent out, according to Election IQ. The department then did an audit on those ballots and believes there could be at least 60 more, Chillcott testified.

Two bins with a combined 750 ballots were also sent to the wrong post office, but the issue is believed to have been resolved, according to testimony.

Approximately 1,700 ballots also did not have readable barcodes, 

Chillcott was also questioned about Election IQ and shared the elections office's trust in the company has eroded. The same company reportedly ran into issues after about 10,000 ballots were not delivered in Mahoning County, Ohio, according to testimony.

The Board of Elections has been in constant communication with the Pennsylvania Department of State and U.S. Post Office with daily calls at 8 a.m., we learned during the hearing. Election IQ has been invited to the calls but has only participated in a handful and was not represented during Thursday morning's call.

About 13,000 emails were sent Wednesday to people who requested mail-in ballots but have not returned them. Approximately 1,200 voters requested absentee ballots.

A total of 41,930 people in Erie County were approved for mail-in ballots, and 23,839 have been returned, according to testimony.

Several witnesses took the stand including two women who did not received their mail-in ballots and one of the people who received a duplicate ballot.

Elections director Tonia Fernandez also testified during the hearing.

Testimony continued Thursday afternoon.