Election Integrity: Lancaster County, PA Uncovers Fraudulent Voter Registration Scheme

With the election only days away, concerns about election integrity have become paramount for many voters. Fortunately, election authorities seem to be vigilantly monitoring for any irregularities and addressing issues promptly—an effort that former President Donald Trump has emphasized as crucial, especially in his remarks earlier today (Friday).

Pennsylvania is widely viewed as the pivotal battleground in this election. With its 19 electoral votes, the Keystone State has become a focus of intense campaigning, with both presidential candidates fiercely vying for a win. Voter turnout and registration efforts have both been critical, leading to an unprecedented push in registration drives, which has yielded favorable results for the GOP. In the 2020 election, there were 4,228,888 registered Democrats and 3,543,070 registered Republicans. By the registration deadline on October 21, 2024, those numbers had shifted to 3,971,607 Democrats and 3,673,783 Republicans—a net gain for the Republicans. This shift underscores that the Democrats’ “blue wall” in Pennsylvania may be less sturdy than anticipated, a reality even acknowledged by some outside the Republican sphere, as Scott Presler highlighted in his remarks earlier on Friday.

In a significant development late Friday morning, election officials in Lancaster County reported uncovering possible voter registration fraud involving up to 2,500 registrations. Shortly thereafter, officials held a press conference to share their findings and provide transparency on the situation.

During the press conference, Lancaster County Commissioners and District Attorney Heather Adams explained that their team had detected voter registration fraud among batches of last-minute submissions from canvassing efforts focused primarily in the city since June. Many suspicious applications were dropped off close to Monday’s registration deadline, and further investigation revealed inaccurate addresses, false identification details, and names that didn’t match Social Security records. Adams noted that one or two organizations, which she did not name, were involved in these registration drives and were believed to be responsible for the fraudulent applications.

Adams also indicated that her team had uncovered issues in about 60% of the applications reviewed so far, although she didn’t specify how many of the total 2,500 had been examined. Applications flagged as fraudulent were traced back to residents in Lancaster city and surrounding areas, including Columbia, Elizabethtown, Akron, Ephrata, Stevens, and Strasburg. Adams added that the same organization or organizations implicated in Lancaster may also have conducted similar registration drives in two other counties, which she did not name, though her investigators have reached out to officials there.

The officials clarified that some of the flagged registrations were legitimate and would be handled accordingly. Fortunately, Pennsylvania has recently seen legal wins on election integrity, which officials hope will reinforce efforts to combat fraudulent registration and voting practices in the state.

As the story unfolded, some critics on the left were quick to cast suspicion on Scott Presler’s organization, Early Vote Action, as a possible source of the fraudulent registrations. Presler swiftly refuted these accusations in a public statement.

His full statement reads:

Statement On Lancaster:

“It’s been brought to my attention that Lancaster County has uncovered a voter registration fraud operation. According to the report, the majority of those 2,500 voter registration applications were turned in at or near the deadline & are dated August 15th. I can unequivocally state that this has nothing to do with @EarlyVoteAction. Our staff turn in voter registration forms as we register voters. The most forms we’ve ever turned in at one time was 400 in Luzerne County—right before we flipped it from [blue to red].

At a recent Luzerne County BOE meeting, the manager revealed that an individual turned in a large quantity of forms on the deadline that were dated back to June. This had no connection to @EarlyVoteAction, either. (This batch should also be reviewed.)

I’m proud that our organization has registered tens of thousands of new Pennsylvania voters this cycle. The reason why Democrats are attacking us is because we’re effective. They’re also attacking us because their voter registration advantage is the lowest it’s been in 50 years & their mail-in ballot ‘firewall’ is severely lagging.

Furthermore, we’ve made a concerted effort to register the Amish to vote in Lancaster—a group that Democrat Governor Shapiro & the Dept. of Agriculture is waging a war against. We look forward to hearing the results of this investigation & who is responsible. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a Democrat organization. In the meantime, vote, vote early, vote by mail, & let’s deliver Pennsylvania for Donald Trump. Let’s go.”

As Pennsylvania gears up for what may be its most consequential election in recent history, these developments underscore the challenges surrounding voter registration and the ongoing efforts to secure the integrity of the electoral process.