PRESS RELEASE: RightCount Praises Pennsylvania Election Officials for Vigilance in Combating Potential Fraud and Foreign-Influenced Disinformation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2024

Lancaster, PA — RightCount today commended Pennsylvania election workers for their alertness, professionalism, and swift response in handling two recent attempts to disrupt the integrity of the state’s election process.

Lancaster County voter services and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s office announced on Friday that instances of potential voter registration fraud were discovered in approximately 2,500 forms submitted shortly before the recent registration deadline. An investigation by the district attorney’s office found incorrect addresses, false identification information, false names and names that did not match Social Security information.  Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, noted that his department was offering support in the ongoing investigation and the Department of State issued a statement praising the actions by the Lancaster County officials.

“The professionalism and vigilance of Lancaster County officials, working in concert with state law enforcement, show that our systems are prepared and capable of addressing attempts to undermine the integrity of our elections,” said Lou Barletta, RightCount State Co-Chair and former Congressman. “The swift and appropriate response illustrates that the safeguards we’ve put in place are effective at combating fraud and ensuring that only legitimate Pennsylvania voters cast ballots. RightCount commends the actions of Lancaster County officials and encourages voters to remain confident in the integrity of our electoral process.”

A second incident in recent days involved a viral video recently assessed by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as a foreign disinformation effort. According to the agencies, Russian actors “manufactured and amplified” the video, which falsely depicted an individual tearing up ballots in Bucks County. This video is part of a known Russian disinformation campaign aimed at sowing distrust in U.S. elections and creating divisions among Americans. The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and Yardley Borough Police Department and said in a joint statement Thursday that they conducted a review and had deemed the video “fabricated.”

“Our elections are heated contests that help set the course of our country in a democratic manner.  We cannot allow foreign actors to sow discord and undermine our democracy by using disinformation to divide us,” said former Governor Mark Schweiker, Co-Chair of RightCount in Pennsylvania.  “Federal authorities and Bucks County officials deserve our thanks and praise for swiftly identifying the source of this material and alerting Pennsylvanians to the truth.”

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