In Pennsylvania, a key swing state, the topic of electoral misinformation has resurfaced as Election Day approaches. Misleading narratives circulating on social media have falsely claimed that numerous migrants are registering to vote unlawfully, suggested the prolonged voting count in the state is merely a cover for electoral fraud, and made unsubstantiated allegations about the participation of deceased voters in elections.
With just a week remaining before the election, conspiracy theories and disinformation regarding the integrity of voting across the country have become prevalent again. While instances of voter fraud do occur, they are quite infrequent, and election officials implement various measures to detect and prevent such occurrences.
According to Daniel Mallinson, an associate professor at Penn State specializing in public policy and administration, concerns surrounding the election system are recurrent. He emphasized that claims pertaining to organized voter fraud or significant numbers of noncitizens voting are not supported by evidence.
**Voting by Noncitizens**
The notion of illegal voting by immigrants has emerged as a prominent topic among Republican discourse during election years. Nonetheless, it remains illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, and there is no credible proof that such activities are taking place on any large scale. Pennsylvania, similar to many other states, forbids noncitizens from voting in state office elections.
A federal law enacted in 1996 enforces penalties such as fines and potential deportation for noncitizens who attempt to vote in federal elections. When registering to vote, individuals are required to swear an oath affirming their citizenship status under penalty of perjury.
In Pennsylvania, registration to vote is limited to individuals who fulfill certain criteria, including being a citizen. The state constitution stipulates that a voter must have been a U.S. citizen for at least one month, alongside fulfilling residency obligations within the state and their voting district.
The state recognized a technical error in 2017 that allowed noncitizens to register while applying for a driver’s license, which they subsequently corrected. At that point, state election officials estimated that around 544 ballots might have been cast unlawfully by noncitizen immigrants from a total of over 93 million ballots cast since 2000.
Post-fix, officials have noted that Pennsylvania’s voter registration process is considerably more reliable. Seth Bluestein, a Philadelphia City Commissioner overseeing election operations, affirmed their vigilance in monitoring voting irregularities, adding that there is no evidence of widespread illegal voting by noncitizens in Philadelphia.
**Voting by Deceased Individuals**
Pennsylvania is one of nine states with regulations preventing the counting of absentee ballots submitted by voters who pass away before Election Day. Conversely, ten other states have provisions that allow such ballots to be counted.
County election authorities routinely update their voter registration records following the deaths of voters. The Pennsylvania Department of Health provides death data to the Department of State, enabling counties to remove deceased individuals from the voter lists. Geoff Morrow, a spokesperson for the Department of State, stated that counties can use health department data, obituaries, and legal documents to confirm a voter’s death.
David Voye, division manager for the Allegheny County Elections Division, noted that once a voter is marked as deceased, any ballot returned cannot be accepted. Additionally, per Pennsylvania election law, election outcomes cannot be invalidated merely because a deceased voter’s mail-in ballot is counted.
In 2021, a Pennsylvania man received a five-year probation sentence for voting illegally on behalf of his deceased mother in the 2020 election. Nonetheless, such incidents are exceedingly rare, as indicated by Veronica Degraffenreid from the Brennan Center and Pennsylvania’s former acting secretary of state, who clarified that organized groups are not exploiting deceased voters’ identities for electoral gain.
**Vote Counting Procedures**
Previous elections have seen misleading claims about the duration required for counting votes in Pennsylvania. However, such assertions misrepresent the actual reasons for the slower process.
The state law mandates that election officials cannot commence the processing of mail-in ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day, with the counting itself not starting until after the polls close. The significant volume of mail-in ballots—nearly a quarter of the total votes in the 2022 midterms—combined with the differing operational speeds across Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, can lead to several days of counting in closely contested races, as experienced in the 2020 presidential election.
Mallinson pointed out that although Pennsylvania offers early voting, there is no pre-counting of ballots, stressing that the delays in processing are not indicative of fraud but rather simply a consequence of the procedural requirements.
This overview seeks to clarify the facts surrounding the electoral process in Pennsylvania amid the turbulence of misinformation leading up to the upcoming elections.