YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Officials in York County have released a statement following reports of potential voter registration fraud.
York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler revealed the latest update in an ongoing review of a large batch of voter registration applications that was delivered to the York County Office of Elections and Voter Registration.
"Last week, the York County Office of Elections and Voter Registration received a batch of 3,087 voter registration applications," Officials with the York County Board of Elections wrote in a statement. "Our election staff has been working diligently to process each of those applications and is analyzing every document to ensure each application was completed legitimately and legally. When questionable applications are identified, they are immediately referred to the York County Office of District Attorney for further analysis.”
Through the ongoing review, the following is the current status report of the 3,087 applications received in bulk delivery to the elections office.
- Approximately 47% of applications have been verified as legitimate and were approved.
- Approximately 29% of applications were found to have incomplete information; approval of these applications is pending additional information from the applicants.
- Approximately 24% of applications were declined and are undergoing further review by the York County Office of District Attorney. Of the declined applications, 85% are duplicate registration requests.
“For every eligible voter whose application remains under review, they can still vote in person on Election Day by provisional ballot," officials wrote in a statement. "Those provisional ballot votes will then be set aside on Election Day and will not be counted until the questions related to their registration are resolved.”
Similar issues have popped up within the last week in Lancaster and Monroe Counties.
The Department of State and respective county District Attorney's offices are assisting in those investigations.
The Department of State issued the following statement on Oct. 31:
The counties’ process to flag and investigate these potentially fraudulent voter registration applications show the safeguards built into our election system are working. As we await results of these investigations, it Is important to stress that the potential irregularities were found in voter registration applications, not ballot applications or returned ballots, and that these applications were not processed.
The reviews of these applications also provide an opportunity to highlight for voters that county election offices are staffed by professionals who know how to do their jobs and are doing them well, working closely alongside local law enforcement.
Secretary Schmidt has spent the last year visiting election officials in all 67 counties. The Department will continue working closely alongside the nonpartisan professionals dedicated to administering elections with integrity and ensuring every registered Pennsylvania voter is able to cast their ballot and make their voice heard in this election.
