Judge Harvey Bartle III, chief judge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ordered election officials of the state to issue emergency paper ballots in case 50 percent or more of any precinct’s machines fail at any one time on Election Day.

The court order came after a coalition of voters and civil rights groups - led by the NAACP State Conference of Pennsylvania - sued Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes over problems caused by machine failures in the April primary. At that time, voters in various Pennsylvania counties reported leaving polling sites without voting or enduring hours-long waits when machines failed.

Until the court order, the rules laid out by Cortes would not have been allowed polling places to offer emergency ballots unless all of the machines at a polling place were not operational. The voting rights case challenged the “100 percent” rule, arguing that voters would suffer irreparable harm if it was not changed.

Moreover, with Pennsylvania’s voting rolls having increased by 400,000 new registrations in advance of November 4 - a rise the judge called an “extraordinary” amount - that could further test a system strained by the turnout in April.

In a 28-page ruling, Bartle noted that DRE - direct-recording electronic - voting machines, like all other machines, sometimes fail. He wrote: “When that happens, time is of the essence. The polls are open for one day, and one day only, and then for only 13 hours. There is no rain date.”

Bartle said protecting “the constitutional right to vote” outweighed the “minimal” harm to counties that now must keep an adequate supply of paper ballots on hand, teach staff when to issue them and tally more paper ballots for November 4.