LANCASTER, Pa. - After denying dozens of voter registrations from local college students in recent weeks, the Lancaster County commissioners have responded with a statement and comments that contradict voters’ firsthand experiences. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has been assisting voters with their registrations and challenging the misinformation that the deputy clerk of the county board of elections has shared with voters, telling them that they must cancel their registrations in other states and have a Pennsylvania’s driver’s license. Barring voter registration for these reasons in Pennsylvania is illegal.
The following can be attributed to Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania:
“The party line from the county commissioners and the board of elections is dishonest. County elections staff erected hurdles before eligible voters, either deliberately or due to incompetence. We have spoken to multiple people who say that they were discouraged or prevented from registering by Lancaster elections staff because they were registered elsewhere or didn’t have the identification that elections staff demanded. Several of these people then went and unregistered in the other state. They would not have done that unless they were told to do so.
“At least one voter who was already registered in the county was removed from active status when he tried to get a mail ballot. That was illegal. And there is a digital history demonstrating proof positive that Lancaster took this illegal action and when they did it. Fortunately, that voter is now registered (as of yesterday), after media coverage and advocacy by the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
“We can see digital footprints demonstrating conclusively that registrations delivered in mid-September are only now being entered into the system. Their claim that they have done everything perfectly defies reality.
“That said, we are now seeing registrations being entered properly, after letters from ACLU-PA and the secretary of state were sent to the county, pointing out their illegal behavior. We will continue to track that process. Sadly, we will never know how many eligible voters who wanted to register were illegally discouraged from doing so. But we will be able to track the county’s registration activities going forward.
“We certainly appreciate the county taking appropriate steps to approve the registrations now, but, rather than gaslight everyone to claim that they did everything right, they should admit errors. Their refusal to do so raises serious concerns about both why this happened in the first place and whether the county has the will to take necessary steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“We hope and expect that Lancaster County’s elections staff will now quickly approve registrations from all eligible citizens well before Election Day.”
