Officials in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, identified thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registrations made just before the state’s preelection deadline, reigniting a debate over ballot integrity with little more than a week before Election Day.
County officials said they received several batches of suspicious applications totaling about 2,500. Worrying indicators included the timing, the fact that many were filled in the same handwriting, and some contained invalid addresses or inaccurate Social Security or driver’s license numbers.
When detectives started investigating, they found accurate forms submitted in the names of voters who said they had never actually filled them out, District Attorney Heather Adams said in a Friday press conference. The residents confirmed for investigators that the signatures weren’t theirs.
“At this point it is believed that the fraudulent voter registrations are connected to a large-scale canvassing operation,” Ms. Adams said.
Officials said they suspected the applications were filled and filed by people paid to get registrations on the books, and there was no initial indication of partisan leanings.
Some registrations in the batches were legitimate, Ms. Adams said, and those voters reported they were signed up at shopping centers, parking lots, parks and other public spaces. But Ms. Adams said about 60% of the cases that had been probed as of Friday were fraudulent.
The legitimate registrations are being allowed to go forward, said Ray D’Agostino, chairman of the county’s elections board.
He said state authorities have been notified of the situation.
“We have an obligation under the election code — not only that but a moral obligation — to investigate any matters of election fraud,” Mr. D’Agostino said.
Lancaster has more than 360,000 registered voters on its rolls. Pennsylvania, considered a key battleground in the presidential election and for control of the U.S. Senate, has more than 9 million statewide.
Officials did not name the people believed to be behind the suspect registration drives.
The case quickly sparked worries on social media, where conservative voices wondered how deep the problem ran.
Ms. Adams said investigators believe other counties in Pennsylvania might have seen similar activity.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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