Latest Voting Problem in Pennsylvania: 100,000 Noncitizens Registered to Vote

RNLA Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter Leader Linda Kerns continues to uncover problems with elections in Pennsylvania.  Yesterday the Washington Times wrote an article entitled Lawsuit: 100,000 noncitizens registered to vote in Pennsylvania, which stated:

The 100,000 number cited in the lawsuit comes from testimony given by Philadelphia [Election] Commissioner Al Schmidt, who revealed the glitch in the state motor vehicle bureau’s systems that prompted noncitizens to register to vote.

In recent months Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State has resigned; Democrat election officials have been charged with voter intimidation; Philadelphia Congressman and  Democrat Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration (a.k.a. the elections committee) Bob Brady announced he is retiring in light of an election scandal; and now this.  The article also cites examples of noncitizens voting including this one:

Yet another woman voted in 2008 and 2012, had her registration canceled in 2014 because she wasn’t a citizen, then reregistered and voted in 2016, according to documents filed in court. She was registered as a Democrat.

Pennsylvania voters deserve better.  Every non-citizen's vote cancels out the legal vote of a registered citizen voter.

[FYI, Linda Kerns and RNLA’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter will be hosting a reception this Thursday night. Check out details here.]

More Liberal Voter Suppression: This Time Military Voters

The liberal Center for American Progress has issued studies and claimed to be against voter suppression.  Yet, they have remained silent about the real voter suppression occurring in Philadelphia and now, even worse, they are actively advocating suppression of the military vote.   

The left-wing public policy group [Center for American Progress] issued a report Monday, “Election Security in All 50 States,” that called for stricter standards to prevent cybermeddling in elections by foreign governments, including banning military stationed abroad from submitting ballots via email or fax.

One state that allows such vote casting is Colorado. The center called on the state to “prohibit voters stationed or living overseas from returning voted ballots electronically.”

As Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams responded:

But Williams believes the Center for American Progress was wrong to ding Colorado for allowing voters who are stationed or live overseas to return their ballots electronically via email or fax.

“They don’t believe someone who works on a submarine should be allowed to vote,” Williams said. “We do.”

The report states: “Colorado should prohibit voters stationed or living overseas from returning voted ballots electronically. Regardless of the state’s secure ballot return system for electronically voted ballots, we recommend that all voted ballots be returned by mail or delivered in person.”

That’s not always possible, Williams said, and noted that Colorado has added safeguards for sending and receiving those ballots.

Colorado ranks second in the nation in the number of ballots transmitted to overseas voters based on its voting eligible population.

Just as Center for American Progress ignores voter suppression of non-Democrat voters in Philadelphia such as Green, Independent, and Republicans because it favors Democrats, it seems the reason for the attack on military voters is because they lean Republican:

 Conservatives were quick to blast the report’s recommendation as unworkable and politically motivated.

“You can bet that if the military historically voted Democrat instead of Republican, the Center for American Progress would not have a problem with it,” Peak said in a Monday post.

Voter suppression should be opposed by all regardless of party.  Whether it is intercity Green Party voters or our overseas military that is suppressed, no group should ignore or support voter suppression.  Shame on the Center for American Progress.  

More Non-Citizens May Be Registered to Vote in Pennsylvania Than Initial Reports Indicated

The latest from the non-citizen voter registration problems in Pennsylvania is that the problem could be much larger than initially thought.  Back in September, Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt reported that 220 non-citizens registered to vote in Philadelphia through a "glitch" at the DMV that allowed persons to register to vote after they had proven that they were non-citizens.  41% had voted at least once.

Then in October, Pennsylvania's Democratic Secretary of State, Pedro Cortes, resigned abruptly and with no explanation.  No official explanation has been given to date, though it was revealed in November that Democratic Governor Tom Wolf forced the resignation, but rumors abound that the resignation was related to the non-citizen registration debacle.

But now it appears after some initial investigation that the problem is greater than the early estimates:

Philadelphia election Commissioner Al Schmidt told state lawmakers this past week that there may be tens of thousands of non-US citizens who have registered to vote in Pennsylvania…and that for their sake, state officials should try to contact them. 

Commissioner Al Schmidt told a Senate committee that many of the non-US citizens who registered to vote in Philadelphia, perhaps unwittingly, did so through a glitch in the state’s motor voter system. While the known cases number only several hundred, he says they are all self-reported. Schmidt says more than 100,000 PA driver’s license numbers with Immigration and Naturalization Service indicators match with voter registration records. . . . "We’re not talking about an insignificant number here,” said Schmidt. “We’re talking about a potentially very significant number of thousands and tens of thousands.”

While not all of these license number hits are non-citizens registered to vote, certainly a significant number are.  As Commissioner Schmidt points out, the victims of non-citizen voter registration and voting are not only the citizens whose votes are cancelled out but the non-citizens themselves, as voter registration as a non-citizen can hinder any future naturalization process:

Schmidt says those people should be contacted. Besides the issue of election integrity, he says registering to vote – even unintentionally – will derail an immigrant’s path to US citizenship.

We will continue to follow this story and investigation.  It demonstrates the immense importance of proper election procedures and testing of election systems to ensure that there are no "glitches," whether technical or substantive, that threaten the integrity of voter registration or elections.

Why Did Pennsylvania's Chief Election Officer Resign? Still Seeking Answers...

Just over seven weeks ago, the Democrat Secretary of the Commonwealth for Pennsylvania, Pedro Cortes, abruptly and shockingly resigned from his post after just over two years. His resignation followed a government finding that non-citizens had registered to vote and many did in fact vote in past elections due to a "glitch" in the commonwealth's motor-voter software.

Since this time, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and his office have not offered any explanation as to the circumstances of Secretary Cortes's resignation--which has only exacerbated the mystery and intrigue surrounding this story.

Earlier this week, Lowman Henry, the CEO of Pennsylvania's conservative-leaning The Lincoln Institute, authored a column on Secretary Cortes's abrupt resignation and the lack of transparency of the whole situation, which was published in a number of local Pennsylvania newspapers.

Mr. Henry's article explains that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has started an official inquiry to see how non-citizen could register to vote and actually cast ballots in Pennsylvania elections, but quickly has become intertwined with Secretary Cortes's resignation. Mr. Henry writes:

[ ] State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, who chairs the State Government Committee, asked the Pennsylvania Department of State — the agency that oversees elections — if there was a procedure in place to cross-check the state’s voter registration rolls with driver licenses issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Foreign nationals can legally obtain a driver’s license, but their status as a non-citizen is so noted in the application process. To date the Department of State has refused to answer the committee’s questions and has not verified whether or not such cross-checking has occurred. Metcalfe further pointed out that there is no procedure in place for verifying U.S. citizenship in the voter registration process. Thus there is no way of actually knowing how many illegal voters are on the rolls. 

Adding to the intrigue was the abrupt and unexpected resignation of Pedro Cortez [sic]. Cortez served as Secretary of the Department of State, a position he held in both the [Gov.] Rendell and Wolf administrations. Cortez’s resignation came days after media reports spotlighting the foreign national problem. In what Metcalfe termed “suspicious timing,” Cortez was gone. Gov. Wolf, who pledged a greater level of government transparency in his administration, has added a few stones to the wall by refusing to disclose exactly why Cortez resigned. Right-to-Know requests filed by media organizations seem to indicate the Cortez resignation was not voluntary. . . It is true cabinet secretaries serve at the pleasure of the governor. But, they must also be confirmed by the state Senate and, especially when dealing with election integrity, have a further obligation to be transparent with the public. . . .

Mr. Henry continues by noting Governor Wolf and Pennsylvania Democrats' track record on election integrity efforts, or lack thereof:

Gov. Wolf has already opposed such election integrity safeguards as requiring voters to produce a photo ID when they arrive at their polling place. Wolf and Democrats in general[ ] claim photo ID is a GOP plot to discourage voter turnout. This though photo IDs are universally available, and needed even to buy cough medicine at the corner drug store.  

So the governor and his administration have a history of failing to take prudent steps to ensure the integrity of the state’s election system. … The State Government Committee lacks subpoena power to force information from the Department of State, but the House should take whatever action is needed to compel testimony. Lawmakers are elected by We the People to represent us and appointed bureaucrats should not be allowed to refuse to answer whatever questions they might have.

Lowman Henry concludes by calling on Pennsylvania Governor Wolf to provide "a full and complete explanation for the departure of Secretary Cortez." And further states that something just seems off with the whole situation and it feels like there is an attempt to hid it from the public.

The RNLA agrees. We believe the full story surrounding Secretary Cortes's ousting should be made public. Also, the public should be made aware of the full extent of these non-citizens voting in the critical swing state of Pennslyvania. We will continue to follow and highlight any developments that arise. 

Rep. Brady Under Investigation for Election Corruption

Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Bob Brady is under investigation for corruption:

The FBI is investigating Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Bob Brady for conspiracy, false statements and campaign fraud in relation to payments his campaign allegedly made to 2012 primary opponent Jimmie Moore in order to persuade him to drop out of the race, court documents reviewed by The Daily Caller show. 

FBI special agent Jonathan R. Szeliga filed a search warrant request on November 1 in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for all emails associated with Brady’s campaign email, BobCongress@Aol.com. 

Szeliga asserted he had “probable cause to believe that Kenneth Smukler, Robert Brady, Donald ‘D.A.’ Jones, Jimmie Moore, and Carolyn Cavaness and others known and unknown have committed violations” including charges of conspiracy, false statements, producing false records, causing false campaign contribution reports and violating limits on campaign contributions and expenditures.

This is the latest in a string of corruption allegations and charges against Democratic members of Congress, but what is striking about the election-related allegations against Rep. Brady is that he is the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, which is the House committee that handles election legislation and issues.  Rep. Brady has been outspoken against concerns about vote fraud and is a leading proponent of mandatory voter registration (a.k.a. automatic voter registration) in Congress.  Also ironic is that Rep. Brady represents the Philadelphia area, which is notorious for election corruption.  RNLA will follow this story as the investigation develops.

From Vote Fraud to Voter Intimidation: Philly Democrats do it All

Our recent blogs have detailed the multitude of problems in Philadelphia in the last year.  RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielen decided to tie them all together in one op-ed in the Daily Caller. 

At best in Philadelphia, it is hard to say where the incompetence ends and the vote fraud begins.  At worse, Democrats in Philadelphia are using Jim-Crow-style intimidation tactics on anyone who tries to vote for the Green or Republican candidates, or anyone but the Democrats’ chosen candidates.

The problems described by Thielen are not limited to the polling booth:

Democrat supporters in Philadelphia have actually preyed on the elderly, who could not or did not want to vote, let alone register to vote.  At the St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Health Care, seniors with dementia, who were unwilling to register or vote, or were otherwise not aware registered and voted absentee in a Democrat Primary.

Or to Republicans:

[R]efusing to allow Green Party supporters to vote, aggressively questioning Green Party voters seeking assistance, and more.   [Pennsylvania Attorney General] Shapiro stated: “One should not chalk these actions up to typical partisanship or typical electioneering.  These were crimes.”

Shapiro stepped up and prosecuted Democrat election officials in one precinct.  The problems are not limited to one precinct.  Please check out the article for more details and unfortunately this blog in the futur,e as there are sure to be more posts on problems with Philadelphia elections.  

Philly Ballot Error: Female GOP Attorney Candidate's Name Misprinted

As voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots in state and local elections around the country today, it was a fairly quiet news day.  That is a good thing for election integrity and election administration; it generally means there were no major mistakes or attempts at fraud.

But there was at least one important mistake.  Christine Fizzano Cannon's name was misprinted on about half of the 4000 voting machines in Philadelphia.  Two different printers were used, each printing half the ballots with a different form of Ms. Fizzano Cannon's name.

Ms. Fizzano Cannon is a Republican female attorney running statewide for the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, an intermediate state appellate court.  Two Republicans and two Democrats were running for the two open seats on the court.

RNLA Pennsylvania Southeastern Chapter Chair Linda Kerns and her team was in court litigating this issue for hours today, but unfortunately this is not the type of error that can be fixed on Election Day.  This shows the importance of election officials' preparation work in checking and re-checking the ballot, voting machines, and other implements of the election to ensure that errors do not confuse the voters or affect any voters' opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice.

"Democrats” Are Ignoring True Voter Intimidation

In case you missed it, early this week Pennsylvania’s Attorney General came down hard against voter intimidation in Philadelphia:

Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the charges should “draw a very clear line ahead of next week’s election.”  

One elderly couple, both Republicans, cast their ballots together, but only one of the votes was recorded, while the other appeared to have been replaced with a write-in vote for the Democrat in the race, Shapiro said.

A voter intending to cast a ballot for the Green Party candidate was told the ballot machine was broken and later was cursed at when he returned to try again, Shapiro said. Another voter supporting the Green Party candidate was aggressively questioned when he tried to bring someone into the polling booth to assist him, as allowed by law.  

“One should not chalk these actions up to typical partisanship or typical electioneering,” Shapiro said

To anyone who has followed Philadelphia elections, none of this is a surprise. Dozens of Republican court appointed election inspectors and poll watchers were turned away in the 2016 election and since they are also voters in that precinct: "People are leaving and they’re scared to come back and vote."

 

What is pleasantly surprising is that the Pennsylvania Attorney General did the right thing and went after a few of the "intimidators."  Kudos to him. 

Why is this not fought more often?  Well, take a look at the webpage of the nonpartisan “Election Protection” coalition.  The coalition of over 100 groups allegedly fights against voter intimidation which it defines as “putting undue pressure on or trying to coerce a person or group to suppress votes or to vote a certain way.”  This is obviously exactly what happened underlying the charges earlier this week in Philadelphia and has been happening since at least 2008.  Yet, the coalition is silent on this. 

The most recent story on their homepage is about Pennsylvania as well.  Yet nothing on the recent charges in Philadelphia in front of a Mayoral election in just a few days.  It seems like the entire “Election Protection” coalition looks the other way when voter intimidation happens to members of the Green or Republican Party.  Or put another way, they are ignoring the voter intimidation done by Democrats.  Shameful, and certainly not “nonpartisan.”   

Brennan Center Spreads Fake News; Noncitizens Are Actually Voting

The Brennan Center for Justice (BCJ) has recently been fond of tweeting over and over:

BCJ report found total of 30 cases of possible noncitizen voting—that’s 30, not 300, 3,000, 30,000, 300,000, or 3M

Turns out their numbers are an absurdly low estimate . . .  even in just one city.  Today, Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt released the following statement:

My office has identified 220 non-U.S. citizens who were registered to vote in Philadelphia at some point between 2006 and 2017. Of the 220 non-U.S. citizen registrants, 90 (41%) voted in at least one election. Of those who voted, 44 (49%) voted on one occasion, while 46 (51%) voted in two to twelve elections in the period in which they were registered. The total number of votes cast by non-U.S. citizens we identified is 227, with the largest number of votes (47) cast in the 2008 General Election. All 220 non-U.S. citizens provided documentation (e.g., signed affidavit or letter from the registrant or their immigration attorney) canceling their voter registration status on the grounds that they were not U.S. citizens and, therefore, were not eligible to register to vote.

Commissioner Schmidt traces the illegal votes to problems with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).  Despite having a citizenship verification procedure, PennDOT still managed to register these non-citizens (emphasis added):

The overwhelming majority (76%) of non-U.S. citizens who registered to vote either initially registered to vote through PennDOT or modified their voter registration record through PennDOT. When non-U.S. citizens apply for a driver’s license, they are required to provide stay documents to show their legal status to remain in the U.S. for at least one year.  PennDOT verifies these immigration documents electronically with the Department of Homeland Security and the applicant’s driver’s license record is marked using an INS Indicator. Nevertheless, following this interaction, non-U.S. citizen applicants – just the same as U.S. citizen applicants – are asked if they would like to register to vote using touch screen technology when driver’s licenses are issued to applicants at PennDOT offices. In addition to the possible challenge of limited English proficiency, it is also possible that – after just providing proof of their status as non-U.S. citizens – applicants believe they are eligible to vote.

“The current voter registration process at PennDOT is both harmful to election integrity and to members of the immigrant community seeking citizenship,” Schmidt said.

The last statement is important as it shows the problems with voter registration systems run through DMV.  The DMV was asking them to register to vote AFTER they had established they were not a citizen.  While the left is pushing for a much broader role for the DMV with systems such as "mandatory (or automatic) voter registration" that also serve to disenfranchise primary voters, these systems may be endangering non-citizens' immigration status.  After all, why would you ask this question after you know I am not a citizen.  

Liberal groups like the Brennan Center should stop denying that non-citizens vote and join with others that are working on fixing these problems both for election integrity and the benefit of legal immigrants seeking to become citizens.  

Philadelphia Election Fraud Trial Pending in Federal Court

As we blogged earlier, in March 2017, a last-minute Democratic candidate, Emilio Vazquez, for the 197th Pennsylvania House race unexpectedly won a write-in campaign, after the former Democratic nominee was disqualified and another candidate could not be added to the ballot in time.

The only two candidates on the ballot were a Republican and a Green Party candidate, in a heavily Democratic district. Republicans had a shot at winning this normally Democratic state legislature seat. However, with the help of "non-partisan" poll workers, the write-in candidate won in a landslide.

This vivid case of election and vote fraud is now pending before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Currently, the case is facing pretrial motions to dismiss. Philadelphia Metro reported:

The parties on both sides of a potential lawsuit that claims illegal electioneering took place during a special election in the city’s 197th Pennsylvania House District will need to wait more than six weeks before they will know if the case will be heard in federal court. . . . Judge Joel H. Slomsky requested all parties involved to submit supplemental materials after they receive a transcript of the day’s proceedings before he would rule on whether the case could be brought to trial.

Lawyers for both [Green Party's Cheri] Honkala and [Republican Lucida] Little, as well as the Republican City Committee, contend that the pair were deprived of a fair election, with several alleged examples being brought up in court, including poll workers going as far as following voters into voting booths on the day of the election in order to force voters to cast their ballot for Vazquez.

“This is massive fraud on a regular basis, and we have to stop it if we can,” Sam Stretton, an attorney for Honkala, told the judge during the hearing. . . Stretton argued that they have reviewed all avenues available to them and have determined that the most appropriate action was to file a federal lawsuit hoping to void the results of the election that put Vazquez in office. They also claimed that their rights under the Federal Voting Rights Act and Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Election Codes were violated during the election. “We did not bring this lightly,” said Stretton. “This is a pattern where everything that could happen wrong, happened wrong.”

While both parties saved specifics of their cases for the full trial, Linda Kerns, an attorney for Little and the Republican City Committee, said that, if the case were brought to trial, they could prove that poll workers gave write-in voters stamps that forced them to vote for Vazquez and had images that could prove at least four people – “eight legs,” as she told the judge – could be seen in one voting booth in the district, which she said indicated that poll workers followed voters into polls in order to manipulate their votes. . . .

[Judge] Slomsky’s decision isn’t expected to be heard for at least six weeks, as obtaining a transcript of Thursday's hearing is expected to take 30 days and the attornies have an additional two weeks to submit additional materials. 

We will also keep you posted once the Court issues its ruling. Tonight, the RNLA's Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter will be hosting a Fall Reception. This Philadelphia election and vote fraud story is surely going to be one of the topics of conversation. There is still time to RSVP if you are interested in attending this reception and meeting fellow members and friends of the RNLA.