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Bucks County says an alleged example used by Commissioner Bob Harvie (D) at a board meeting regarding the rule of casting more than one vote is “sad,” but the council to elaborate, even though Harvie’s comments appear to be directly contradicted. by numerous documents from the Pennsylvania Department.
The issue is yet another example of the lingering debates, misunderstandings, and ongoing debates about mail-in voting practices in Pennsylvania, especially where drop boxes are concerned – laws approved by the Gov. Tom Wolf (D.) is damaged by incompetence.
During the public comment section of the meeting, one person raised issues related to the integrity of the vote and thanked the council for the decision to install more drop boxes. of the council to indoor areas such as libraries and courthouses, so that the boxes are not accessible but not stored inside. hours overnight.
The same person asked if the council could make a count of the number of people who used the drop box each day and compare that to the number of votes received in each drop box each day. , and is said to be one-to-one. ratio.
That prompted Harvey’s accusation.
“Pennsylvania law allows more than one ballot if he has a proxy form for the person he’s casting the ballot for, if not themselves. If you go, you can go — under the law you can go to a senior center or a nursing home and get 100 votes, if you have 100 forms. selected from each voter, you are allowed to bring 100 votes. That is the law. So the idea that one person can’t bring in two votes is not correct,” said Harvey.
Harvie is not only a commissioner, but he is also the chairman of the county board of elections.
The story was highlighted by Bucks County resident Megan Brock, who has created a story about politics in the county and the southeastern part of the state.
Pennsylvania law allows a person to cast his or her own vote, without anyone else. If the person is disabled, he/she names a “designated representative” to cast his/her vote, and he/she must fill out a reminder form at the association.
However, according to the guidelines for the form provided by the State Department, “[t]The person you appoint as an agent is only allowed to act as an exclusive agent for ONE voter, unless the other voter(s) lives in the same household as you,” (the basic principle).
According to those rules, no one can cast 100 votes, Harvie said.
Another document, from the State Department, talks about the justification Harvie used for nursing homes.
“The ‘house’ for branding a customer doesn’t take long
care home,” said the guide.
The council said Harvey’s comments came amid ongoing conflict with indigenous activists.
“It’s unfortunate, but not surprising, that the absurd model being offered in response to the false claims of election commentators will become a rallying cry for people who promote distrust in our elections,” it said. said Bucks County spokesman James O’Malley.
“The Commissioner is responding to a barrage of lies and misrepresentations about our elections, which have been made repeatedly, without evidence, at public meetings in Bucks County. However, these are the kinds of lies that have been seen perpetuated across the country – falsehoods that fueled intimidation and voter violence, such as the January 6th uprising and last week’s horrific attack on the husband of the Speaker of the House, ” he continued. .
“The Bucks County Board of Elections has always followed state and federal law, and will continue to do so in future elections, to protect the right to vote. The law states that a designated agent can return ballots for more than one voter under certain circumstances,” O’Malley concluded.
Broad + Accurate did not ask the council if it violated any state or federal law, but rather if Harvie’s model was legal.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
The Bucks County GOP emailed a statement from management, not the same person, saying it was “shocked by this false statement from a Commissioner who is also the Chairman of the Board Vote.”
“His statement is so wrong, it’s like agreeing to harvest votes, in nursing homes,” the statement said.
Brock’s tweet thread, which also released documents from the State Department, had nearly 4,500 likes at the time of this publication.
While Harvie’s argument about someone collecting 100 ballots from a single booth may seem absurd, the fact is that there is plenty of evidence of people putting multiple ballots into drop boxes. It’s not that the votes are rigged or thrown away.
For example, a group in Chester County used the Pennsylvania Right to Know law to obtain surveillance video of a drop box used in the 2020 and 2021 primary elections. downvoted multiple votes – up to eight at once as shown by one photo.
The video evidence was so convincing that the county promised a judge it would implement new monitoring methods for the drop boxes being used for Election Day.
Shortly after last year’s election, Governor Wolf admitted that he had broken the law by placing his and his wife’s ballots in the drop box. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney came close to breaking the law in 2020, but was saved by an upstairs refrigerator watcher.
This spring, Lehigh County said it had evidence that hundreds of people dropped multiple ballots in drop boxes, possibly in violation of the law, but did not seek to prosecute anyone. Despite those findings, the judge issued a lawsuit seeking to force the county to adopt box monitoring standards, such as those adopted by Chester County.
Todd Shepherd Broad + Accurate‘s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports
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