Sen. Cris Dush again has cast doubt on the trustworthiness, integrity and honesty of our friends and neighbors, of both political parties, who staff our polling places on election day. In his recent “Mission Report” he says he wants to “restore trust” in our state’s voting system.
I worked the McKean County elections for a number of years. Everyone worked together to verify the rolls and certify the calibration of the voting machines. The same can be said for those counting mail-in ballots in Smethport.
Sen. Dush states the Lehigh County district attorney wrote a report that alleged ballot stuffing of mail-in drop boxes during the November 2021 election. Sen. Dush states “almost 1,000 ballot-stuffed votes were discovered by the Lehigh County district attorney … potentially impacting more than 20 competitive county races.”
But, in a subsequent lawsuit the trial judge wrote that Lehigh County DA James Martin “testified that he uncovered NO evidence of election fraud in either the November 2021 general election or the May 2022 primary election regarding the submission of mail-in ballots to drop boxes.” No criminal charges were filed. According to the judge’s written opinion, the district attorney “acknowledged the most egregious example seen by the county detectives “was one person dropping off four or five ballots” into one ballot drop box.
Instances of people dropping multiple ballots into the ballot boxes were not “ballot stuffing.” Rather, it was likely a person dropping off a ballot for other members of the household.
Sen. Dush writes that “unlike standard paper ballots, mail-in ballots and drop boxes make it impossible to preserve ballot chain of custody.” In the Lehigh County lawsuit even those who claim alleged election fraud agreed the “ballots are securely collected by only authorized individuals to ensure proper chain of custody, transport, receipt and processing.”
Base reform on facts. A senator should not undermine the public’s trust in our election officials and poll workers to score political points.
Peter Palumbo, Bradford
