A criminal investigation has been launched after thousands of suspected fraudulent voter registrations were discovered in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.
The Lancaster County Board of Elections announced Friday that staff members identified 2,500 suspected fraudulent voter registration applications, which had been dropped off at the election office.
Some had false names, suspicious handwriting, questionable signatures, incorrect addresses or other problematic details.
Two other Pennsylvania counties ‘received similar applications’ and were notified to check into them, Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said at a news conference. She declined to name the other counties.
‘It appears to be an organized effort at this point,’ said Adams, an elected Republican. ‘But of course, it’s an ongoing investigation. And we’ll be looking into who exactly participated in it and how far up it goes.’
At the news conference, Lancaster Commissioner Ray D’Agostino, a Republican who chairs the election board, said: ‘The fact of the matter is, we’ve contained this. This is not right. It’s illegal. It’s immoral. And we found it, and we’re going to take care of it.’
Most of the applications were dated since August 15, and a majority of them were from Lancaster City.
Adams said: ‘In