Harris tells voters to choose unity over 'petty dictators': October 29 campaign news


About a week before Election Day, officials in two Pennsylvania counties announced they had received large batches of suspicious voter registration forms. Although at least some of the documents appear to be fraudulent, there is no indication that any of them are ballot papers, although officials made clear they are continuing the investigation.

Former President Donald J. To listen to Trump, Pennsylvania's election system was already falling apart.

“They've already started cheating in Lancaster,” he said at a rally Tuesday night in Allentown, Pa. “Each vote was written by the same person.” He made similar allegations about York County, based on claims he had made earlier in the day on social media about “really bad 'things'” in the two counties. He stressed, “Law enforcement must do their job immediately!!!”.

But contrary to Mr Trump's inflammatory claims that fake ballots were cast, there were no reports of the two batches of documents containing genuine ballots. And on the ground, away from the extremist channels of social media, law enforcement was already doing its job.

Neither a representative of the Trump campaign nor the state GOP immediately responded to requests for comment.

Thousands of voter registration forms, as well as some mail-in ballot applications, were submitted in large batches by out-of-state campaign groups. Some of the paperwork raised suspicions among county election workers, and officials in both counties said that any forms that appeared to be fraudulent would be turned over to local prosecutors.

In interviews, officials stressed that all of this is a sign that their election security protocols are working as designed.

“The system worked,” said Alice Yoder, one of Lancaster County's three commissioners. He stressed that not all the registrations were fraudulent and that county officials were taking a painstaking process of contacting people to sort them out.

“We caught it,” she said.

In an election that is expected to be close, in which a few thousand Pennsylvania votes could make the difference, it doesn't take much incentive to inflame partisan tensions. Suspicions of possible foul play run deep, particularly in Pennsylvania, where county governments have considerable autonomy over how to enforce the details of election law.

The first reports of possible fraud in Lancaster County came when election workers raised suspicions about about 2,500 registration forms that were distributed by a canvassing group. Some forms included incorrect addresses or Social Security numbers. In some cases, personal information on the form correctly matched a county resident but the resident told investigators they did not fill out any forms.

“This should be troubling for anyone,” said Ray D'Agostino, a Lancaster County commissioner and chairman of the elections board. “Now, the good thing is, you know, we can say that people caught on to it. And we did. But it's a problem that people tried to do that.”

While Mr. D'Agostino did not name the organization that distributed the forms, and cautioned that the motive was still unclear, he said the group of potentially fraudulent forms included both Democratic and Republican voters. In a statement, county officials said the canvassers involved were paid to obtain voter registration applications.

In neighboring York County, officials became suspicious when a campaign organization delivered a large box of election materials, including some mail-in ballot applications but mostly voter registration forms. Officials said they are still investigating the forms and will turn over any potentially fraudulent material to the county district attorney's office. The Lancaster case is already under investigation by her county district attorney's office.

These were not the only episodes that have attracted attention, although these appear to be the most serious to date.

Last week, Lancaster County faced scrutiny from progressive voting-rights activists after employees of Franklin & Marshall College in the city of Lancaster claimed that dozens of out-of-state students who were trying to register to vote , they were told that they would have to prove to them that they were not registered in their home states, a step that is not required by law. Pennsylvania's Secretary of State sent a sharply worded letter to the county, accusing officials there of creating a “misunderstanding” that was not consistent with state and federal law.

Mr D'Agostino flatly denied that students were told they would have to take this step, and said all registrations had been processed by now. Ms. Yoder said the same. But the outrage was so great that the county at one point sent the college a “cease and desist” letter, demanding it stop making claims against county employees, local news outlet LNP reported.

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, the gap between how election officials and the major partisans viewed election-related events was stark.

A woman was arrested at a polling place Monday in Delaware County, outside Philadelphia. County officials cited “multiple witnesses” and said the woman, Val Biancanillo, was “disruptive, belligerent and attempting to influence voters waiting in line” and that several people complained to police officers at the scene. Was.

But in a post on Monday evening on Was doing.” Vote Freely” and called his arrest “leftist voter suppression.”

By Tuesday night, Mr. Whatley posted a brief interview with Ms. Biancaniello, a delegate to the 2024 Republican convention. “If they can arrest me, you could be next,” she said.

Ms. Yoder said she hopes politicians will give counties the space they need to deal with the disruptions, and refrain from amplifying incomplete stories on social media while the facts are still emerging. “When these messages circulate, it really casts doubt on our election,” he said. “For me, it is dangerous. “I'm hoping we can avoid that as much as possible.”

alan feuer Contributed to the reporting.


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