Pennsylvania’s top election official confirmed his office is investigating potentially fraudulent voter registration applications after authorities in multiple counties reported the issue.
Noting that the discovery of possibly fraudulent registrations are “absolutely” troubling, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt told local news outlet ABC27 Sunday that “Lancaster County is doing what every county does,” which is to determine whether voter registration applications are legitimate.
Lancaster County officials set the problematic registrations aside and they were sent to local law enforcement, Schmidt said.
“I want to stress these are not ballots that were cast, but rather applications to register to vote,” he said during an election briefing, reported CNN.
“The Pennsylvania Department of State has been in touch with the county from the very beginning to provide guidance to them as they conduct their review and will continue to support them as needed.”
Schmidt said that voters should be confident in the state’s election security, adding that the problem was caught and is being investigated.
“This should give us confidence in the safeguards built into our election process, not undermine confidence in them,” he said.
“Lancaster County did what all counties do when they encounter potentially illegitimate voter registration applications: They’re identified, they’re investigated, and they refer to law enforcement when appropriate,” he said.
Schmidt told the local ABC affiliate that various checks are in place ensure that only eligible voters cast ballots and only one ballot is counted per voter.
The issue arose after Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said election workers raised concerns about two sets of voter registration applications because of what she described as numerous similarities.
Authorities are examining a total of about 2,500 forms. Lancaster officials said they alerted two other counties to check similar registration applications.
In Monroe County, the Board of Elections staff identified about 30 irregular forms and referred them to the district attorney’s office.
York County Chief Clerk Greg Monskie confirmed this week that his county was reviewing suspect forms. County Commissioner Julie Wheeler issued a statement saying voter registration forms and mail-in ballot applications were among a “large delivery containing thousands of election-related materials” that the county elections office received from a third-party organization.
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