A group of concerned Chester County citizens submitted unexpected findings to their Board of Elections last Friday. A canvassing and research investigation found many suspected ineligible people voting in the county. This submission adds to a growing list of incredible discoveries in the Chester County voter rolls, and brings further concern that the county rolls are not being properly guarded and maintained.
The submission to the Board of Elections (BOE) included 144 voter roll registrants that had moved away to different states and counties yet voted in the November 2022 Midterm Election. Most of these registrants had moved away seven months to multiple years prior to the election. Examples of where these registrants were found to have moved include California, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Minnesota, Michigan, Florida, and South Carolina.
A non-partisan group of volunteers canvassed homes using data from the National Change of Address (NCOA) database. Of the names and addresses that were canvassed, around 70% had indeed moved away. The canvassers relied on testimony from the current residents at the visited properties and from neighbors who were familiar with the former residents. MLS data and other online research tools were also used to confirm the findings.
In addition to the 144 voters no longer living in Chester County, another 3,115 active registrations found on the NCOA database were also submitted. Based on the canvassing estimate of 70%, there may be another 2,180 people who could vote that do not live in Chester County. Additionally, 30 active registrants who moved from the Pocopson precinct # 530 were also included.
The current BOE is comprised of one county commissioner and two judges of the Court of Common Pleas, all of whom swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. The six citizens who sent the submission now wait to see how the BOE will respond to their redress of grievances over the issue. Per PA Title 25 § 1507, the names should be investigated and removed from the roles if proven to be ineligible.
The citizens of Chester County are concerned that suspected ineligible voters are voting or unscrupulous organizations could use this information to fabricate votes in the upcoming election. Based on the significant numbers found, as the evidence shows, and the fact the US Postal Service NCOA is public information, these concerns are not unfounded. If ineligible voters remain on the voter rolls and voters or organizations were to fabricate votes using this data, it could change the outcome of many races in the November election.
The most recent history of voter roll problems in Chester County reveals that the above issues are just a small piece of a larger problem. The November 2022 Midterm election was rife with concerns from county voters. This included six former Republican State Representative candidates who last spring submitted to the BOE data which showed multiple districts in Chester County having more people registered on the voter rolls than the population of those districts, according to the US Census. Districts 155, 156, 157, 158, 167 and 44 all show more than 100% of the elderly age bracket of 75-84 as being registered, along with districts 155, 157 and 167 showing more than 100% of the 20-24 age bracket as being registered. Of note was district 157, which showed over 150% of the age 20-24 population being registered. More than 100% of the age 75-84 population went on to vote in districts 157 and 167. To see the BOE’s response, click here.
In 2021 Judicial Watch gave Chester County a Notice of Violations of 52 U.S.C. § 20507 and a Statutory Notice of NVRA Violations. These notices reported that Chester County had more registered voters (100.86%) than citizens who are old enough to register and pointed out such high registration rates are inconsistent with compliance with the National Voter Registration Act.
What should be one of the biggest concerns in Chester County is the percentage of registrations of the elderly population. Data from the 2021 voter rolls presented by Douglas Frank, PhD reveal that almost 100% of our elderly are not only registered but voting. This was confirmed to be the case in the 2022 Midterm Election, shown by the state representative district data.
According to the 11/9/2021 PA Department of State Full Voter Export, 13,810 Chester County registrants were found with date errors on the voter rolls according to ChescoUnited, a group of citizen activists in the county. These errors included the following:
* 66 voters registered to vote before they were born
* 2,742 voters changed their status before they were registered
* 11,053 voters had registration changes made before their original registration date
* 166 people voted before they were registered
* 3,300 voters living in apartment buildings had no apartment number
* 32 voter households had members assigned to vote in two different precincts
* 13 voters lived in commercial office buildings
* 50 voters lived at US Post Office addresses
* 46 Voters had lived at a hotel longer than a year
ChescoUnited posted this data and many other election anomalies that occurred in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 county elections on their website.
Other voter roll issues that were brought to the attention of the prior BOE (Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, Michelle Kichline) included multiple names of individuals on the voter rolls whose birthdates were January 1st, 1800. Multiple people are still found on the rolls having this birthdate, along with many others whose birthdates are in the years 1900, 1901, 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1909. Many of them share the same January 1st birthday.
Audit the Vote PA (ATVPA) conducted a canvassing effort in Chester County in 2021 to look for election anomalies from the 2020 General Election. Of the homes that were visited, a 46.3% discrepancy rate was found. At several of the residences, the number of registered voters that voted did not match the recorded number of registered voters that voted from that address. Another find included bizarre registrant addresses, including an individual who was found to be living in New York but voted from a barn containing tree removal equipment. Other votes were cast from an empty, dilapidated house and an empty field. Several individuals revealed they did not vote in 2020 yet someone used their names and addresses to vote for them.
Other 2020 General Election discoveries from ATVPA included 2,434 duplicate registrations and 3,946 backfilled registrations. Backfilled registrations are those that were missing from the April 2020 voter rolls that have registration dates before April 2020, which then mysteriously reappeared on the voter rolls before the 2020 election. 3,332 of those backfilled registrations went on to vote in 2020. There also were 1,499 inactive status voters who voted in 2020.
It should not be up to the citizens to find errors and issues in the voter rolls, and the citizens of the county need to know that they can trust the BOE to conduct a thorough investigation into the apparent and ongoing inaccurate voter roll dilemma. Our votes are sacred. It is a grave injustice when eligible voters take the time to cast a vote, only to be disenfranchised by ineligible voters.