Postal Voting Issues Target PA Overseas Voters • PA Spotlight

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Thousands of mail-in ballot applications across Pennsylvania have been challenged, in many cases by right-wing activists, in what the state calls a “bad faith” coordinated effort accusing voters of being ineligible based on their address or voter registration status.

At least 14 counties have received lawsuits challenging mail-in ballots, ranging from a dozen in Clinton County to more than 1,300 in Bucks County. Each challenge provides evidence that the voter has moved overseas or has filed a change of address request with the United States Postal Service. However, neither scenario would necessarily disqualify a voter from voting in Pennsylvania.

More than 4,000 ballot applications had been challenged by Friday’s deadline, according to data provided by counties as well as the State Department. It is unclear how many ballots may be disqualified because not all 4,000 voters may have returned their ballots yet.

“Several fraudulent mass applications were filed throughout the commonwealth’s counties throughout the day Friday as part of a coordinated effort to cast doubt on the qualifications of thousands of registered Pennsylvania voters who applied to vote by mail,” said Amy Galli, a spokeswoman for the State Department. Pennsylvania. “These claims are based on theories that courts have repeatedly rejected.”

The number marks an increase from the initial group of ballot complaints that came to light late last month after election departments in southeastern Pennsylvania began processing the complaints.

Pennsylvania law requires someone to be a resident to be eligible to vote. It also established a process by which—for a $10 fee—a person’s application to vote by mail can be challenged on the grounds that the applicant is ineligible to vote. County officials will notify eligible voters by mail. If the challenges are successful, it means the voters’ ballots will not be counted.

Counties will need to hold hearings to determine the validity of the objections, during which voters can respond to the allegations made against them. Many counties have not yet scheduled these hearings or plan to hold them after Election Day. In at least one county where hearings have already taken place, Chester County, the complaints have been dismissed.

Pennsylvania is perhaps the most important battleground state this year, and its 19 electoral votes could determine who sits in the Oval Office on Jan. 20. If the presidential race is as close as polls suggest, even relatively small batches of ballots could prove important. , leading to ongoing legal disputes over ballots that can be rejected for a variety of reasons.

The bulk of new challenges first reported by LNP | LancasterOnline argues that because the voter resides outside the United States and is not technically eligible to register as a Pennsylvania voter, he should not be eligible to vote. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986, a federal law commonly referred to as UOCAVA, established that U.S. citizens and military personnel living overseas can still vote by absentee ballot in the state in which they last resided . These types of voters are known as “federal-only” voters because they can only participate in federal races such as presidential, but not local races.

“I… was fielding frantic phone calls from out of state from all these people,” said Forrest Lehman, elections director for Lycoming County, who received 71 calls. “It’s emotionally draining.”

Lehman said he has heard from voters who were deployed overseas during military service and then retired in this country, stayed in another country after falling in love with someone there, or otherwise moved, but -still consider the United States their second home.

Other problems were based on comparing voter addresses in the state’s mail ballot request file and addresses associated with a voter’s name in the U.S. Postal Service database, a comparison method that experts and officials have criticized for its tendency to create false matches. or missing the nuance of a person’s situation that led them to request a change in their mailing address.

Who is behind the problems and why?

The problems appear to be part of a coordinated statewide effort. The challenge petitions reviewed by Votebeat and Spotlight PA, as well as information provided by county officials, show they came from individuals associated with the Institute for Election Research and Fair Elections PA, two groups led by Heather Honey, a Pennsylvania researcher whose analysis methods data have produced inaccurate or erroneous conclusions in the past. It is unclear whether Honey provided research and analysis of the issues.

Honey did not respond to a request for comment, but the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that PA Fair Elections denies filing any change of address applications or filing any applications on its behalf.

Petitions challenging UOCAVA in Lycoming County reviewed by Votebeat and Spotlight PA show they were filed by Karen DiSalvo of the Institute for Election Research.

Diane Houser, who filed the lawsuits in Chester County based on U.S. Postal Service change-of-address records, confirmed at Friday’s hearing that she was working with PA Fair Elections and that the lawsuits were part of a “statewide effort.” The complaints in Delaware County were filed by Patricia Bleasdale, who also attended PA meetings on election integrity.

Twenty-eight claims were filed Friday in Allegheny by Charles Faltenovich, according to a county spokesman. Faltenovich is also associated with the Fair Elections PA.

Bleasdale and Faltenovich did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.

It is unclear who filed the lawsuits in other counties, as many counties did not respond to requests from news organizations over the weekend.

PA Fair Elections was also involved in a federal court lawsuit against UOCAVA voters, which a judge dismissed last week. Honey is a plaintiff in a lawsuit pending in state court that challenges the state’s UOCAVA voter registration process, and DiSalvo is listed as an attorney in the case.

Marian Schneider, senior voting rights policy counsel at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said federal law protects the rights of these citizens to vote in federal elections, even if they are not registered in Pennsylvania.

Voters cannot register to vote because they are not Pennsylvania residents. But UOCAVA gives foreign citizens the right to vote in the last state they lived in – Schneider

said.

“It’s people who don’t understand the law or haven’t taken the time to study it that are filing complaints just because they’re not in the voter registration database,” she said. “These are misguided attempts to silence the voices of voters, and these problems represent a misunderstanding of what their status is and what the law is.”

The ACLU on Sunday sent a letter to all 67 counties notifying them that the challenges, if they received them, were “legally flawed” and warning counties against preventing out-of-state voters from voting based on such challenges.

DiSalvo disputes this reading of the law.

“It is not an issue that UOCAVA does not protect the voting rights of these voters (sic),” DiSalvo said in an email interview. “UCAVA protects the rights of U.S. citizens living abroad—but UOCAVA requires registration. UOCAVA protects overseas voters by requiring states to accept and process valid voter registration applications.”

DiSalvo said the county should fix this by simply processing voter registrations. She did not answer questions about how she obtained the list of voters facing a contested election or how challenges are funded. She also said she filed the complaint with Lycoming as an individual and not as part of any group or organization, although she used the Institute for Election Studies email address when filling out the form.

Sarah McMillin is the daughter of one such voter, an 80-year-old US citizen living in France. She said that when her mother received an email saying her ballot was being challenged, she thought voting this year would be “too hard” and “there was nothing she could do.”

“It all makes her a little nervous,” she said of her mother, who the family asked not to name but Votebeat and Spotlight PA confirmed she is the subject of the trial. “It bores her.”

McMillin said she and her sisters are working to make sure their mother’s votes are counted, but she is concerned that the issues could dissuade other older voters from participating because they mention fines and jail time even though they are associated with election officials commissions.

“If I were an 80-year-old woman getting this, I’d be like, ‘Oh my god, something went wrong and they’re going to fine me $15,000,'” she said.

Honey has been focusing on UOCAVA voters for many years. In addition to writing a report on the matter, published in September 2022, she filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of State with the assistance of Society counsel Thomas More. It alleged that the department was violating federal law by not requiring identification for some foreign voters.

It also exports its propaganda to states outside of Pennsylvania. In August 2023, she gave a presentation about foreign voters to a Virginia coalition affiliated with the Election Integrity Network run by Cleta Mitchell, a right-wing election lawyer and Donald Trump ally, according to records reviewed by Documented, a D.C.-based investigative organization. news publication.

A now-deleted post from the North Carolina-based Asheville Tea Party shows that, at Mitchell’s request, she also gave a presentation on military and overseas voters in April 2023.

Tasks fail on the first round of testing

At least one batch of tests failed. On Friday, Chester County held a hearing on 212 complaints received based on USPS change-of-address data.

Many voters whose eligibility was in question showed up at the hearing to testify and provide evidence that they were in fact Chester County residents and therefore eligible to participate. Some said they used the U.S. Postal Service change of address form while traveling and needed to send mail somewhere else, were temporarily out of state while attending school, or were traveling with their military spouses.

“I wanted to prove that this is who you influence,” Ana Harley said at the hearing. She explained that she has to move frequently because her husband is in the Navy, but her permanent home is in Chester County. “I have the privilege of being here and others don’t.”

Several other voters spoke, and county officials questioned the credibility of the evidence for many of the other objections raised by Houser, leading Houser to withdraw approximately 30 objections.

The Chester County Board of Elections rejected the remaining objections.

Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at [email protected].