According to a court case, Pennsylvania’s election procedures for foreigners have created flaws that could lead to fraud. The Pennsylvania Department of State and six members of Congress have been fighting legal matters over whether these citizens ‘ names should be verified before they are given a vote as early voting is afoot.
However, the case was dismissed on Tuesday at the plea of Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, not on the qualities, but because of schedule. Judge Christopher C. Conner of the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania stated in his determination that plaintiffs “delay too long to record their actions, they lack standing, they have failed to meet essential parties, and they have failed to express a worthwhile cause of action.”
The case was brought by U. S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, Dan Meuser, Glenn” G. T”. Thompson, Lloyd Smucker, Mike Kelly, and Scott Perry, who joined the action afterwards.
The state provided recommendations to counties regarding the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act ( UOCAVA ), a federal law that allows Americans who are outside the country to cast ballots. Because they were formerly primarily defense, UOCAVA voters are often referred to as military citizens. According to vote leadership and voting poll information, nonmilitary voters have outperformed those in the military since 2014.
Image CreditElectoral Administration and Voting Survey
Voters in Pennsylvania’s election perhaps cast ballots if they have lived abroad for years and are unsure whether they will return.
This time, 32, 711 UOCAVA voters have requested votes in Pennsylvania as of Oct. 21.
Of those, 5, 681, that is, only 17 percent, are defense voters, according to statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Even if the county ca n’t match a requester’s identity with the state databases, which is required by the federal Help America Vote Act ( HAVA ), the Pennsylvania Department of State has directed county election officials to do so.
The Pennsylvania Department of State was the subject of the identity-verification directive’s challenge.
HAVA mandates that says follow required requirements when requesting voter registration for a national poll. The student may offer, at the time of registration, a valid driver’s license range. If the user does not have a pilot’s license, he may use the next four figures of his Social Security number. Application for a distinctive identifying number can be obtained for applicants without a driver’s license number or social security number, and their personality and voter registration can be verified using various approved files.
However, defendants ‘ Secretary of the court said,” [i]n direct conflict with federal and state law.
According to court documents, Commonwealth Al Schmidt or Deputy Secretary for Elections Johnathan Marks, or both, have issued commands and instructions to election authorities to completely free UOCAVA candidates from any identification needs. Pennsylvania primaries could become subject to exploitation by foreign countries, such as Iran, without such a validation of UOCAVA voters.
The state contends that an online Federal Post Card Application ( FPCA ) serves as both an absentee application and a voter registration application.
 ,” Vote licenses may not be rejected based only on a non-match between the applicants ‘ identifying numbers on their program, and the assessment collection numbers”, the policy reads. According to the statement,” Counties must confirm their procedures adhere to state and federal law, which means that a voter registration software may not be rejected but instead must be processed like any other programs.” If a state can verify that a vote is a U. S. resident, or otherwise eligible to vote, the state must provide the voting a ballot anyway, the condition says.
The plaintiffs are considering options for elegance and believe they will prevail if the event is decided on its merits, according to Election Research Institute attorney Erick G. Kaardal on Tuesday. Kaardal represents the defendants.
In the past few months, Pennsylvania regions have been inundated with phony report voter registration software. More than 35, 500 UOCAVA applications were processed as of this night, according to Kaardal, with no real identification of identification or registration of the vote membership program information. While the plaintiffs have always argued that the majority of UOCAVA applications were likely submitted by actual people who provided the required identification, PA Department of State must abide by the law and check the applicants ‘ eligibility and identity, according to the plaintiffs.
Interference from Iran
Members of Congress warned in the filing that” ]a ] s described in the US Department of Justice indictment, Iranian nationals, in efforts to interfere with U. S. elections, demonstrated that bad actors could easily create and submit falsified FPCAs in Pennsylvania’s November 5, 2024, federal elections”.
Three Iranian members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) were charged on September 27, 2024 in an indictment released by the U.S. Department of Justice, and they allegedly hacked president Donald Trump’s campaign, high-level government officials ‘ email addresses, and their identities from at least January 2020 to May 2024.
The DOJ claimed that the activity “was part of Iran’s ongoing efforts to stoke discord, erode confidence in the U.S. electoral process, and unlawfully obtain information relating to current and former U.S. officials” that could be used to advance the IRGC’s criminal activities, including those attempting to avenge the death of former IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a drone strike in January 2020.
” Similarly, two Iranian nationals, who are currently wanted by the FBI, were charged with interfering in the 2020 election. The members of Congress said in their response to the defendants ‘ motion to dismiss that the Iranians were accused of successfully breaching at least one statewide voter registration database and attempting to breach voter registration systems in eleven dozen other states. ” They used data from their successful Alaska breach to produce thousands of phony UOCAVA applications and federal write-in absentee ballots.”
The plaintiffs ‘ response reads,” The IRGC has demonstrated a knowledge of the UOCAVA vulnerabilities and a willingness to break the law to interfere in the 2024 election.” ” Based on these facts”, they argued, there was” no inexcusable delay” in filing their complaint.
Judge Conner rejected the case without making a decision on the UOCAVA issue because this argument did not move him.
For more election news and updates, visit , electionbriefing.com.
Beth Brelje covers The Federalist’s elections coverage. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
