Unfounded voter fraud claims have brought attempts toward stricter voting laws in Pennsylvania

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Unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in Pennsylvania, a key battleground in the 2020 presidential election, spurred repeated challenges to the commonwealth's election laws over the past two years.

But Republican-led efforts for stricter voter ID laws and an audit of the state's voter registration system have met fierce opposition over the past year from Democratic lawmakers, either in court or through Gov. Tom Wolf's veto pen.

This year's election could have major implications on future elections with Wolf reaching his term limit at the end of this year while newly redrawn legislative districts could tilt power away from the current GOP control in the General Assembly.

The state's 2023-2024 budget approved earlier this month allocated $45 million in a grant program for counties to cover costs of holding elections, but the grant came with a prohibition on "third-party" grants similar to the ones offered by the nonprofit Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) in 2020.

Beyond the budget concessions, legal challenges to the state's most recent major ballot expansion, voting by mail, appear to be maintaining the status quo of the last two years.

Mail-in ballots remain an option in Pennsylvania

In the two years since Act 77 of 2019 allowed Pennsylvania voters to cast a ballot by mail for any reason, the law has been a target of legal challenges and election integrity debates.

The no-excuse mail-in ballot option quickly became a popular choice for voters during the 2020 presidential primary that occurred at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Pennsylvania.

Roughly 51% of the nearly 1.45 million ballots cast in that June primary were from mail ballots, and voters have continued to cast hundreds of thousands of mail ballots in every primary and election since.

On Aug. 2, the state Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s ruling in January that Act 77 was unconstitutional on the grounds that lawmakers overreached when they expanded ballot access instead of putting the question to voters in a constitutional referendum.

The results of a November 2021 race for the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas brought another lawsuit against the county’s Board of Elections for its decision to count 257 undated ballots in the race where the Republican candidate held a 71-vote lead over his Democratic opponent.

Act 77 requires voters to sign and date an attestation on the mail ballot return envelope when returning the ballot.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania, on behalf of five voters whose undated ballots were at risk of being tossed out, argued that a missing date would not otherwise disqualify a voter’s eligibility and was immaterial.

After going through state and federal appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court in early June upheld a ruling that found the mail ballot law’s date requirement ran afoul of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

That circuit court ruling would later prompt another challenge by 14 state Republican lawmakers arguing that a non-severability clause in Act 77 meant the entire law must be thrown out if any of its provisions are unconstitutional.

Wolf’s administration responded to another lawmaker’s inquiry regarding the GOP’s July 21 filing by saying the initial lawsuit was challenging Lehigh County’s decision to count ballots with a missing date but didn’t challenge the validity of the date requirement. It's unclear when the challenge could be considered by the state’s highest court.

Has there been voting fraud in Pennsylvania? Yes. Four cases.

The Department of State is aware of four documented cases of voter fraud from the 2020 election that resulted in convictions, a spokesperson said.

The cases are:

Bruce Bartman of Delaware County is serving five years on probation after he illegally voted for Trump by casting a ballot on behalf of his deceased mother, the Associated Press reported.

Melissa Ann Fisher of Bucks County recently was sentenced to three to 23 months in jail as well as three years of probation after she signed a mail ballot for her deceased mother during the 2020 presidential election. The sentence also included two unrelated theft cases.

Ralph Holloway Thurman of Chester County pleaded guilty last year to attempting to vote as his son during the presidential election after he had cast a ballot earlier in the day, according to The (Pottstown) Mercury. Thurman, who is a Republican, was ordered to serve three years of probation.

Robert Richard Lynn of Luzerne County pleaded guilty last year to completing an absentee ballot application and signing his deceased mother's name, the Times Leader reported. His sentence was six months of probation.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Voter fraud is rare in Pennsylvania, but allegations flew after 2020