Voter registration challenge approved by Lycoming County Board of Elections
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Although they are not inferring voter fraud, the county's Board of Elections approved a challenge filed by the Director of Elections Forrest Lehman, which cancelled the voter's registration. The action took place at a hearing conducted during a recent meeting of the board.
The case now will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office to determine if there was voter fraud committed.
The challenge stemmed from a voter who had registered to vote using the street address of a business that offers their customers mailbox services.
"A couple years ago, we resolved some issues through this process, where we had a handful of voter registration records where the voter was registered at the street address of a post office so it wasn't a P.O. box. If they had put a P.O. box, we wouldn't have let them register there, but they used the street address because they were folks who they moved around a lot, and they thought it was convenient to just have that as one place that they could use," Lehman said.
"You can't register to vote that way. It has to be where you reside. Where do you lay your head at night? And so in those cases, in some cases, we were able to figure out where do they actually reside, you know, they did a change of address. In other cases, we never heard back from them. So we had to go through this process to challenge and ultimately direct that the records be canceled," he said.
In this case, it came to my attention recently that Staples also offers mailbox services, and so we did a look at that address, and we have this one record that is registered at the address for Staples, which is 1915 East Third Street, and there's a box number," he said.
Multiple attempts were given to the voter to correct the record by providing a residential address in the county in order to update their registration. Finally the voter was notified of the challenge and that there would be a hearing before the Board of Elections.
The voter was told that the hearing would be the time and place to present anything on their behalf in response to the challenge.
Lehman provided the board with the documentation showing when communications had been sent to the voter and the instructions on how and what they needed to do to correct the issue.
The documentation Lehman provided the board also included an aerial map from the county's GIS, as well as Google Maps, indicating the 1915 East Third Street is, in fact, the Staples store. Even a printout from the Staples website showing that this is their street address, the cover letter I sent to them, you know, with the petition explaining what they needed to do and what would happen if we didn't hear back. That was in October, on the fourth they received a notice. Along with that, all they needed to do was complete it, provide an updated address, and we could have updated their voter registration," he said.
In late December, Lehman again tried to make contact with the voter, reiterating that their record had been challenged and the time and place of Wednesday's hearing.
In his thorough investigation, Lehman contacted Staples in person to verify that it was not possible for anyone to reside at that location.
"There's no property caretaker, there's no apartment or anything that somebody could, offhand, be living at that we don't know about," he assured the board.
The board voted to cancel the voter record.
"I'll note for the record that...we will notify the voter that the record has been canceled, we'll provide them with a voter registration form that they can use to re-register. And depending on the information they provide, they may be re registered in Lycoming County, or they may end up going to some other county, we just don't know, but they're going to be given that opportunity so that they can get back on the rolls," he said.
Commissioner Scott Metzger, a member of the Board of Elections, advised Lehman that the board wants the matter sent to the DA's office to be looked into.
"We have an obligation under the election code to forward any suspicious circumstance if we believe that there may be a violation of the election code," Lehman said, adding that he had wanted to wait and see what action the board took before sending the entire package of information to the DA.
"I would recommend that you do that, just because we have not heard back from the individual with an explanation," Metzger said.
In other actions, the board approved several polling place changes. The new polling sites are: Bastress Township-the Immaculate Conception Church Parish Hall, 5931 Jacks Hollow Road; Jackson Township-Jackson Township Building, 824 Blockhouse Road; Montoursville Borough Ward 1-John Dorin Municipal Building, 617 North Loyalsock Ave; Montoursville Borough Ward 3-Faith United Methodist Church, 700 Fairview Drive; and Williamsport Ward 7-St. John's Newberry United Methodist Church, 2101 Newberry St.
The board approved refiling a petition with the Court of Common Pleas to consolidate precincts in Muncy Borough.
Muncy's Borough Manager Charlie Hall spoke to the board, advocating for the consolidation.
"The primary in 2024 was the first time that Muncy's first and second precincts co-located in the same facility. Prior to that conversion, there was a petition filed with the court to consolidate the districts in Muncy. Unfortunately, some folks misunderstood what was going on, came and gave testimony, and as a result of the testimony provided, the judge at that time chose not to allow the merger of the two districts, so there was some confusion as to what was going on," Hall said.
At that time, we had a council leadership that probably would not have allowed me to come and speak at that hearing, therefore it could not clarify what was going on. As of the 2024 primary the first and second precincts are co-located in the same facility. First United Methodist Church, 602 South Market St. Currently there's not a large enough usable location in the borough for residents of Muncy to vote in the borough," Hall continued.
"Having the two precincts voting at the same place requires large space, as well as two sets of election poll workers, and has caused some confusion for some as to where they were voting. Consolidating into one precinct would eliminate confusion, duplication and the size requirement," Hall added.
"I believe that the board can go ahead and consolidate where precincts vote into one merging area. I'm here to encourage you to go ahead and carry through with that petition, because I just think it's the right and proper thing to do for the residents of the borough," Hall added.
Lehman noted that about 1,600 voters are registered in Muncy and would be affected by the change.
The Board of Elections also approved a new pay schedule for poll workers which will take effect on Jan. 1. The $30 increases across the board will cost the county an additional $34,000 per year for two elections and the training of workers.
The new pay schedule for poll workers is:poll judges, $230; other poll workers, $180; half days, $90; and trainings $50.