‘Fraudulent’ Mail Ballot Request Forms Found in Another Pennsylvania County, District Attorney Says

The Monroe County district attorney said that dozens of ‘irregular forms’ were found, with some turning out to be ’fraudulent.’

An election worker opens envelopes containing vote-by-mail ballots in a file photo. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

Officials in Pennsylvania’s Monroe County announced this week that they discovered mail ballot request forms in the county that were found to be fraudulent.

Monroe County District Attorney Mike Mancuso wrote on social media that after a regular review of mail-in ballot requests and voter registration request forms, the Monroe County Board of Elections found “approximately 30 irregular forms,” which were then segregated.

“Several of the Voter Registration Applications and Mail in Ballot Request forms have been found to be fraudulent as they were not authorized by the persons named as applicants,” he said on Tuesday, noting that the named applicant in one instance “is in fact deceased.”

The fraudulent registration forms were traced to a specific individual and a company, Field and Media Corps, an Arizona-based organization and subsidiary of Fieldcorps working out of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County.

The company “in turn was responsible for submitting the forms in question to county officials,” the district attorney’s office said.

“The broader investigation continues with reference to Fieldcorp’s involvement. Our office is in regular contact and working with investigators from the Attorney General’s Office as well as others.”

The company is a consulting firm that specializes in media and field work for its clients, its website shows. It also helps with voter registration drives, phone banking, and text campaigns, it adds.

Officials in Pennsylvania have said that Field and Media Corps, also called Field+Media Corps, was linked to voter registration forms and mail ballot applications that are being investigated in York and Lancaster counties.

Field and Media Corps has also been linked to voter registration forms and mail-in ballot applications that are being looked at by York County officials, according to a report by Harrisburg TV station FOX43.

The Epoch Times contacted Field and Media Corps for comment on Thursday but received no response by publication time.

The company released a statement to a local news outlet, the Allentown Morning Call, that it attempted to contact York County and will speak to officials in Monroe County.

“We are proud of our work to help expand access to voting through our nonpartisan voter registration program. We have not been contacted by election officials in PA counties and we have no additional information on the alleged problematic registration forms,” the company said in a statement.

“We would hope that if Field+Media Corps were the subject of any active investigation, that we would be proactively contacted by the appropriate officials. If we are contacted, we will work with local officials to help resolve any discrepancies to allow eligible people to vote.”

For the 2024 election, Pennsylvania is considered a key battleground state that could determine who wins the presidential contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It is one of the most closely observed states and was the subject of considerable litigation in the 2020 election.

New Legal Challenges

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party submitted a lawsuit on Wednesday in Pennsylvania’s Erie County arguing that a number of voters have not received a mail-in ballot ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

In their lawsuit, Democrats alleged that between 10,000 and 20,000 voters who requested the mail ballots “have not received or submitted such ballots” to date and that the return rate for mail ballots in the county is 15 percentage points below Pennsylvania’s mail-ballot average.

Some 552 voters, the lawsuit also alleged, contacted a hotline that was set up by the Democratic Party in Erie County because they received “an incorrect mail-in ballot or have yet to receive any mail-in ballot whatsoever.”

Erie County’s election board released a statement on Tuesday saying it was aware of the issue and that voters haven’t received mail-in ballots after they requested them. But the board did not disclose why the mail ballots weren’t sent out.

“The Board has been working diligently with the Voter Registration Department, the Pennsylvania Department of State, and the United States Post Office to determine the origin and scope of this matter,” the statement said.

A judge this week sided with Trump’s campaign and Republicans by agreeing to extend the in-person voting option in Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia that saw long lines this week at early polling sites.

Judge Jeffrey Trauger wrote in a one-page order that Bucks County voters who want to apply for an early mail ballot now have until Friday, Nov. 1.

The lawsuit sought a one-day extension, through Wednesday at 5 p.m., for Bucks County voters to apply in person for a mail-in ballot, a method referred to as on-demand mail voting in Pennsylvania. The judge’s order permits applications through the close of business on Friday.

“Today’s ruling really is kind of a victory for making sure Pennsylvanians are going to have a secure and orderly process,” said Bill McGinley, an attorney for the Republican National Committee and Trump campaign.

Pennsylvania does not allow early voting on voting machines in polling places, as some states do. A RealClearPolitics aggregate of recent polls shows Trump with a 0.7 percent lead over Harris in the state, which has 19 electoral votes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.