Berks officials turn potential election violation over to district attorney
May 2—An allegation of a potential election code violation in Berks County has been turned over to local authorities to investigate.
At a meeting of the board of elections Thursday, First Assistant County Solicitor Cody Kauffman said the county recently received a complaint from a concerned person who said they overheard someone openly discussing how they filled out and signed the mail ballot belonging to their spouse.
The individuals named in the complaint were not identified.
Kauffman told the board that he spoke with the couple alleged to have violated the election code last week to gather more information. He said both spouses asserted the allegation likely stemmed from a misunderstanding and claimed the mail ballot was completed by the proper individual.
Kauffman said the allegation of someone completing a mail ballot requested by someone else, unless the proper disability documents have been submitted, is a clear violation of the state election code. He recommended the matter be turned over to the district attorney's office for further investigation.
"I think it's always important to reiterate that when we are addressing these types of matters the board does not decide guilt or innocence," he said. "The role of the board in this is limited to determining whether the facts as alleged establish a violation of the election code sufficient to refer this to the district attorney's office."
Commissioner Christian Leinbach said he agrees completely.
"People need to know, if they aren't already aware, that when a specific complaint is brought to this body that it is investigated," he said. "And if that investigation leads us to continue to believe that there's a possibility the law has been violated we have consistently voted to refer that to the proper authorities."
Leinbach said fully investigating complaints is one of the best deterrents the county has to help people understand that voting is a serious business.
The board unanimously voted to turn the matter over to the district attorney's office for further investigation and to throw out the mail ballot in question because the case would likely not be quickly resolved.
Commissioner Dante Santoni Jr. said that while he feels strongly that no voter should ever be disenfranchised he believes this is the right course of action given the timeline the county has to certify election results.
"We can't simply put it aside and wait until the investigation is over," he said.
