Lancaster County, Pennsylvania investigating fraudulent voter registration forms dropped off close to deadline
A batch of about 2,500 voter registration forms submitted in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, included several that were rejected after an automated state system flagged the forms as fraudulent, officials said in a news conference Friday.
The news comes just as CBS News Philadelphia concludes its investigation into election integrity in five Pennsylvania counties.
Now police are investigating who dropped off the forms, which came in two batches to the county Board of Elections office close to the submission deadline. Pennsylvania's deadline to register to vote was on Monday, Oct. 21 — one batch was dropped off Friday, Oct. 18 and another the day of the deadline, officials said.
"Through the staff's normal review process, as many as 2,500 completed voter registration forms are being researched for potential fraud stemming from two separate drop batches by individuals," Lancaster County Board of Elections vice-chair Ray D'Agostino said at a news conference.
D'Agostino said the applications are being reviewed in an "extensive, multi-step review process" that involves the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
Some of the applications contain handwriting that matches other voter registration forms, signatures that don't match what's logged in the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE), inaccurate addresses and inaccurate driver's license and Social Security numbers, D'Agostino explained.
"In some cases, applications contained correct personal identification information such as the correct address, correct phone number, date of birth, driver's license number and social security number, but the individuals listed on the applications informed detectives that they did not request the form, did not complete the form and verified that the signature on the form was not theirs," District Attorney Heather Adams said.
She said the majority of the fraudulent applications appear to be connected to a large-scale canvassing operation to register voters dating back to June, but most are dated Aug. 15 and after. The canvass events took place at grocery stores, parking lots outside businesses, parks and other public locations.
Adams would not say how many forms out of the 2,500 have been investigated, nor would she say how many had been flagged as fraudulent by her office. She noted the investigation was ongoing. The investigation has turned up both fraudulent and legitimate registrations contained in those batches of forms.
In the legitimate registrations, people listed on those applications confirmed to detectives that they had registered to vote with a canvasser, Adams said.
"Our Lancaster County Elections system is secure. Our systems worked," the Board of Elections said in a statement. "We will continue to operate with the highest levels of veracity, integrity, and transparency so that Lancaster County voters can be confident in our election."
Officials noted it's not unusual to get batches of voter registrations from grassroots organizations that hold registration drives and that those applications are more often than not, found to be above board after they're reviewed by the Board of Elections. What was unusual (and illegal) in this case was that the particular organization or organizations behind these batches submitted forms with several issues that quickly raised red flags.
Officials would not name the canvassing organization or organizations involved.
"Voter registration is a personal matter and there are a lot of good people trying to help register people. And that's great and that's fine, and we're happy to help get those people registered," D'Agostino said. "But this is not right, this is illegal, this is immoral. And we found it and we're going to take care of it."
In a statement to CBS News Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Department of State said it was assisting Lancaster County authorities in their investigation and that the county followed the department's guidance by reporting the potential fraud.
"As their officials noted, grassroots efforts to register voters across the Commonwealth are important and legitimate, and the safeguards in the system allowed them to identify and isolate these suspicious applications. No eligible voter will be denied the ability to register," a DOS spokesperson said in part. "As the county's efforts show, multiple safeguards exist to ensure the integrity of our elections, and Pennsylvanians can have confidence that this November's election will be safe, secure, free and fair."
Anyone who recently registered should check their voter registration status on the Pennsylvania Department of State webpage linked here.