Justice Dept. orders Pennsylvania county to change ballot practices after 'troubling' findings
The Justice Department sent a letter to Luzerne County in Pennsylvania on Thursday, ordering it to change its practices after multiple military ballots supporting President Trump were found discarded.
The Justice Department sent a letter to Luzerne County in Pennsylvania on Thursday, ordering it to change its practices after multiple military ballots supporting President Trump were found discarded.
The issue surfaced earlier in the day when Justice announced it had recovered a small number of discarded ballots. While the department would not say where it had found the ballots, it did say there were nine recovered -- seven of which were cast for President Trump, while the other two were sealed by Luzerne County before the FBI recovered them,
In his letter to county officials, U.S. Attorney David Freed indicated additional ballot materials were found in a dumpster. Freed said the investigation yielded "troubling" findings, including that the county allegedly improperly opened ballots.
"Even though your staff has made some attempts to reconstitute certain of the improperly opened ballots, there is no guarantee that any of these votes will be counted in the general election. In addition, our investigation has revealed that all or nearly all envelopes received in the elections office were opened as a matter of course," Freed's letter read.
"Even though your staff has made some attempts to reconstitute certain of the improperly opened ballots, there is no guarantee that any of these votes will be counted in the general election. In addition, our investigation has revealed that all or nearly all envelopes received in the elections office were opened as a matter of course," Freed's letter read.
"It was explained to investigators the envelopes used for official overseas, military, absentee and mail-in ballot requests are so similar, that the staff believed that adhering to the protocol of preserving envelopes unopened would cause them to miss such ballot requests. Our interviews further revealed that this issue was a problem in the primary election -- therefore a known issue -- and that the problem has not been corrected," he added.
"While the assigned investigators are continuing their work including reviewing additional discarded materials, it is imperative that the issues identified be corrected." CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
- Pennsylvania election officials sound alarm over 'naked ballot' ruling, warning it could jeopardize 100,000 votes
- More than half a million votes already cast in 2020 election
- Philadelphia election official urges GOP state legislature to outlaw secrecy envelopes for mail-in ballots
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court extends state mail ballot deadline to 3 days after election
In other developments:
- Pennsylvania election officials sound alarm over 'naked ballot' ruling, warning it could jeopardize 100,000 votes
- More than half a million votes already cast in 2020 election
- Philadelphia election official urges GOP state legislature to outlaw secrecy envelopes for mail-in ballots
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court extends state mail ballot deadline to 3 days after election
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