PA County: Voter Application Fraud Tied To ‘Large-Scale’ Operation

Lancaster County Pennsylvania Commissioners, who also make up the county board of elections, announced Friday they are investigating 2,500 voter registration applications for potential fraud. At least 60 percent of the applications investigated so far have been confirmed as fraudulent, according to Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams.

The county believes these fraudulent applications are part of a “large-scale” operation that has been underway since June, Adams said, and two other Pennsylvania counties are involved in similar investigations. She declined to name the other counties, saying they could choose to name themselves.

The voter registration applications came in two large batches from a group (or groups), which the county did not name, that has engaged in canvassing areas to register people to vote.

“We are still investigating who is behind this,” Adams said.  

The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania was Oct. 21. The batches with fraudulent registration applications arrived at the county on or near the deadline.

“Applications in in these batches are going through an extensive multi-step review process, including the district attorney’s office for further investigation, as warranted,” Lancaster County Commissioner Ray D’Agostino said in a press conference. “This includes issues of duplicate handwriting matching other voter registration forms in the batches; inconsistent signatures with what is on the file in the SURE System, because … many of these are duplicates; unverifiable and or inaccurate addresses; an inaccurate driver’s license or Social Security number of verification.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office have been notified.

Lancaster’s chief clerk of elections contacted Adams on Tuesday, Oct. 22, to report potential fraudulent voter registration applications.

“While preparing to process these applications, staff noticed that numerous applications appeared to have the same handwriting, were filled out on the same day with unknown signatures, and some were previously registered voters and the signatures on file did not match the signatures on the application,” Adams said.

The fraudulent nature of some of the registrations became clear as soon as county detectives launched their investigation, according to Adams. Some applications had accurate information, but the individuals whose information was listed on the forms said they had not requested, filled out, or signed the applications. Others contained inaccurate information, such as fake names or identification numbers that did not square with the names provided. 

“At this point, it is believed that the fraudulent voter registrations are connected to a large-scale canvassing operation[] for voter registrations that date back to June, however, the majority of the applications received are dated August 15 and after,” Adams said. “Those canvassing for voter registrations were employed and paid to obtain voter registration applications. The majority of the applications were from residents in the city of Lancaster. However, applications were also received from residents in Columbia, Elizabethtown, Mount Joy, Akron, Ephrata, Stevens, Strasburg, as well as other locations across Lancaster County.”

These ballots are related to voter registration canvassing that happened “at shopping centers, parking lots of grocery stores and businesses, sidewalks and parks.”

Detectives found some applications are legitimate. D’Agostino stressed “applications that have gone through this extensive review and investigative process and are not deemed fraudulent are being processed.” “No eligible voter will be turned away,” he said.

County detectives are still investigating some of the 2,500 registration requests and were expected to complete that process Friday, Adams said. Of those investigated, her office determined that 60 percent are fraudulent. She did not a give number surrounding this information, saying it is an ongoing investigation.

“We are aware of at least two other counties that receive similar applications that are currently being investigated,” Adams said. “At this point, we have confirmed violation of our crimes code as well as our elections code.”

Last week Cambria County announced a similar investigation triggered by 21 fraudulent voter registrations. The circumstances were similar. They are not neighbors. The county seats of Lancaster and Cambria are 181 miles apart.

Anyone in Lancaster County who believes their personal information was used on one of these registration applications without his consent, and anyone who was approached by someone and asked to register under suspicious circumstances, should contact the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.

Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.