Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled administration has defended a woman who dropped off numerous voters’ absentee ballots last year – and Republicans are saying political favoritism is the reason.
As The Pennsylvania Daily Star reported last week, Montgomery County Chief Operating Officer Lee Soltysiak wrote a letter to Montgomery County Republican Committee (MCRC) Chair Liz Preate Havey insisting that MCRC was “irresponsible” to allege the woman acted illegally.
“This individual did nothing wrong,” Soltysiak wrote. “In fact, the video [obtained from the county by MCRC and released to the press] shows this voter taking the proper steps to enfranchise residents of a local rehabilitation and long-term care facility so that their votes were legally cast.”
Numerous sources have identified the individual depositing the handfuls of ballots into drop boxes as a former Upper Dublin Democratic Committee co-chair who remains a party committeewoman in Upper Dublin precinct 3-2. The official has made public appearances alongside Democratic County Commissioners Ken Lawrence and Val Arkoosh as well as other Democratic row officers.
“The Democrat-controlled County has chosen to protect one of its own party leaders in direct violation of PA law,” read an MCRC statement released Friday. “This kind of blatant disregard for even the simplest election security rules is unacceptable and contributes to the deep distrust many have in our system.”
Pennsylvania law generally requires that someone voting by absentee ballot either mail the ballot or submit it himself or herself by going to the Voter Services office or placing the ballot in a drop box. (The receptacles have been in use in Pennsylvania since 2020.)
The illegal practice of delivering a ballot for another voter is known as “ballot harvesting.” An exception is made for a voter with a disability who authorizes a third party to drop off his or her ballot. Usually, this third party can only do so on behalf of one disabled voter.
Someone can serve as the “designated agent” to drop off multiple voters’ ballots only if all of those infirm voters live in the same household. Soltysiak asserted in his letter that the woman depositing the ballots had the proper authorization documents. But does a long-term care facility — where the county COO says the voters in question lived — constitute a household?
County officials say yes. But the Pennsylvania Department of State says no.
As The Daily Star noted last week, county spokesperson Kelly Cofrancisco said via email, “The policy that we have adopted in Montgomery County is that a person can serve as a designated agent for multiple voters with a disability if those voters all share the exact same address within the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) system.”
Yet the Department of State’s website reads, “A ‘household’ for the purpose of designating an agent does not include a long-term care facility. However, a couple sharing a room or apartment within a facility may be considered members of the same household. This means that each resident who is unable to return their own voted ballot due to a disability must designate a different agent.”
Havey said the county never communicated to her organization that the county would apparently permit long-term care establishments to be treated as households. As a result, Republicans had every expectation that all parties would have to follow the rules as the Department of State explained them.
“How come the Democrats are aware of these rules and they were never in any of the instructions that were provided to us?” Havey said. “Nobody ever talked to us about them, but we’re just supposed to understand that you can ballot-harvest at a senior-living facility as a designated agent? I just feel like they have been bending the rules for years and they finally got caught and now they’re trying to say that it’s okay when the Department of State says it’s not.”
She said the county GOP is requesting that the Montgomery County Election Board provide her organization with all of the documentation the county has examined pertaining to the woman who deposited the numerous ballots. The party has also requested that that information be submitted to the offices of District Attorney Kevin Steele (D) and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D).
Havey said she furthermore has asked the county to respond to allegations based on video evidence that 106 other people deposited more than one voters’ envelope into the Upper Dublin ballot receptacle.
Upper Dublin Republican Committee Chair Nancy Marsden called the alleged ballot harvesting “shocking and disappointing on many levels.”
“The individual in the video has worked for the local Democratic committee for many years, including as its leader and currently as a committee person,” Marsden said. “She has now discounted the legitimacy of all of the elections in which she has been involved.”
The Upper Dublin Democratic Committee declined to comment. The Montgomery County Communications office did not return an email seeking comment.
– – –
Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ballot return box” by Chris Phan CC BY-SA 3.0.
