Election officials in Pennsylvania are looking into suspicious voter registration applications they received ahead of the state’s deadline

According To Fox5 News:

Potentially fraudulent election materials are being probed by top law enforcement and election officials in the battleground state of Pennsylvania as the 2024 contest enters its final days.

District attorneys and election officials in both Lancaster County and York County are looking into potential election-related fraud after authorities received large batches of voter registration materials from a “third-party organization.” Both York and Lancaster counties have more registered Republican voters than Democrats, according to state data, with York Republicans holding a 63% majority in the area and Lancaster Republicans at a 61% majority.

The importance of the issues cropping up in Pennsylvania — which is widely viewed as one of the key battleground states that could determine a winner in the presidential race — were underscored on Tuesday, when 2024 GOP nominee and former President Trump highlighted the allegations of potential fraud in a Truth Social post.

“Wow! York County, Pennsylvania, received THOUSANDS of potentially FRAUDULENT Voter Registration Forms and Mail-In Ballot Applications from a third party group. This is on top of Lancaster County being caught with 2600 Fake Ballots and Forms, all written by the same person. Really bad “stuff.” WHAT IS GOING ON IN PENNSYLVANIA??? Law Enforcement must do their job, immediately!!! WOW!!!” he posted.

In Lancaster County, home to Pennsylvania’s Amish community, the district attorney and the Lancaster County Board of Elections held a press conference last week announcing the investigation of potential fraudulent voter registration forms — not ballots as Trump had alleged — after receiving roughly 2,500 voter registration applications in two separate batches last week. The batches of registration applications were dropped off ahead of Pennsylvania’s registration deadline on Oct. 21.

“Staff noticed that numerous applications appeared to have the same handwriting (and) were filled out on the same day,” District Attorney Heather Adams said during a press conference. “The confirmed indicators of fraud that detectives came across were inaccuracies with the addresses listed on the applications, fake and false personal identification information, as well as false names. Also, applications that had names that did not match the provided Social Security information.”

Adams said the materials sometimes included correct personal information, but when the individuals were contacted by investigators, they reported they did not request the application forms. She estimated this week that about 60% of the applications were fraudulent, News 8 reported.

County Commissioner Josh Parsons told News 8 that the alleged phony registration forms are a “threat” to the election process.

READ FULL ARTICLE: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/voter-registration-probes-launched-crucial-keystone-state-counties-amid-claims-potential-fraud

Michigan will count ballot of Chinese national charged with voting illegally

ACCORDING TO NYPOST:

DETROIT — A Chinese national studying at the University of Michigan faces criminal charges after voting illegally — but the vote will still count.

While the Michigan secretary of state portrayed the 19-year-old’s illegal vote as an “an extremely isolated and rare event,” the vote was self-reported, not ferreted out by election officials. The student is charged with perjury and voting illegally.

“The student’s ballot is expected to count in the upcoming election — although it was illegally cast — because there is no way for election officials to retrieve it once it’s been put through a tabulator, according to two sources familiar with Michigan election laws. The setup is meant to prevent ballots from being tracked back to an individual voter,” the Detroit News reports.

GOP state Sen. Lana Theis has warned of Michigan’s election-security shortcomings for years. Same-day voter registration does not require an identification; election officials take people’s word they’re whom they claim to be.

Despite the vulnerability, Theis agrees there is no way to retrieve a ballot once it is cast and doesn’t think there should be — the ballot would no longer be a secret.

Theis explained that if election officials could retrieve this particular ballot, matching a specific ballot to a specific voter, they could retrieve any. And that would be the end of the secret ballot as we know it.

“The ballot that you voted is sitting in a sleeve that’s not attributable to you,” Theis told The Post. “It’s in an envelope that’s kind of a blank envelope but the numbers sticking out of the top. So they pull off that perforated piece, and now this thing cannot be identified to you at all in any way. That’s your secret ballot.”

She added: “Once it goes through the machine, there’s no way to identify it, to track it back to you, which is necessary in order for you to have your secret ballot.”

Matt Hall, House Republican leader in the Legislature, said the illegal vote points to a need for additional election-security measures from Congress.

“Democrats are responsible for letting this Chinese national illegally cast a ballot in our elections,” he said. “Michigan Democrats have ripped away crucial election security measures over my objections, and Democrats in Washington have blocked the SAVE Act that would keep noncitizens from voting by requiring proof of citizenship. Only U.S. citizens should vote in American elections, but because of Democrats, this foreign national was able to just sign a form and vote without providing proof of citizenship.”

After a vote is cast is too late, Theis said. Election security begins much earlier, when voters are registered, and continues before they’re handed a ballot.

“The recourse is prior to their registration, and then verification at the time they get their ballots, all of which we have weakened,” Theis told The Post.

Michigan voters approved a 2022 constitutional amendment that allowed for “at least nine” days of early voting. This year, early voting started Oct. 26.

And voters approved a 2018 constitutional amendment to allow for no-reason absentee voting and same-day voter registration.

Theis argues voters were misled about how the amendment would treat voter ID. Rather than strengthen it, the amendment weakened it.

“READ FULL ARTICLE: https://nypost.com/2024/10/30/us-news/michigan-will-count-ballot-of-chinese-national-charged-with-voting-illegally/