A week ago, we brought you the story of some election integrity concerns out of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, after local election officials there revealed they had become aware of roughly 2,500 voter registration applications that may have been fraudulent.
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During a press conference on the matter, officials disclosed that a large batch of suspicious registration applications had been dropped off at the county elections office shortly before the October 21 deadline for them to be received. After looking into the matter, officials determined that many of the registrations contained incorrect addresses, false identification information, false names, and names that did not match Social Security information.
Election Integrity: Lancaster County, PA Busts Fraudulent Voter Registration Efforts
Without identifying them, officials indicated they believed one or two organizations were behind the fraudulent registrations and vowed to continue investigating, noting that at least two other counties may have encountered similar issues.
We’re now learning more about who may have been behind the improper registrations. Per the latest reports, the investigation has expanded, and one particular group, Field+Media Corps, based in Arizona, was thought to have some involvement:
On Wednesday, Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer said in an email that he referred the matter to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. Brett Hambright, a spokesperson for the attorney general, confirmed the office accepted the referral.
A Tuesday statement from Monroe County District Attorney Mike Mancuso on social media claimed an Arizona-based political canvassing firm was tied to about 30 potentially fraudulent voter registration applications that were flagged by Monroe election officials.
Mancuso said in his statement that the group, Field+Media Corps, was “working out of Lancaster County.”
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While Field+Media Corps CEO Francisco Heredia indicated Pennsylvania election officials had not contacted his group, he did confirm that the group had worked in Lancaster County this year.
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Some rather intriguing information about Heredia and his organization has been uncovered:
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Mike Mancuso, the Monroe County District Attorney quoted in several of these posts, shared the information on his Facebook page on Tuesday:
Last week, following a regular review of Voter Registration/Mail in Ballot Request forms received in its office, the Monroe County Board of Elections identified approximately 30 irregular forms. Those forms were segregated, and the matter referred to the Monroe County District Attorney for investigation.
Since then the Office of District Attorney has been investigating the referral by the Monroe County Board of Elections. 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.
In at least one example, the named applicant is in fact deceased. To date several, of the fraudulent voter registration forms have been traced to a specific person.
A company calling itself ”Field and Media Corps” a subsidiary of Fieldcorps, an Arizona based organization, working out of Lancaster County, in turn was responsible for submitting the forms in question to county officials.
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. A further update will be made in the next day or so.
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Here’s additional background regarding Field+Media Corps and its parent company, FieldCorps:
Field+Media Corps operates voter registration drives for clients in Arizona, too. Last year, both Navajo and Mohave counties flagged voter registration forms from the company and sent them to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for investigation, office spokesperson Richie Taylor confirmed to Votebeat Thursday.
Taylor said that Maricopa County prosecutors took the lead on investigating, because the forms were initially submitted there before being sent on to Navajo and Mohave. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office confirmed the office opened a related investigation, but was unable to immediately provide more detail.
Asked about the Pennsylvania and Arizona investigations, Heredia said the company trains workers to fill out forms accurately. When asked about the characterization of some submitted forms as fraudulent, Heredia said Field+Media Corps has a zero tolerance policy for workers who submit fraudulent forms.
He said the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office contacted his company last year in connection with an investigation into two canvassers the company employed. Field+Media Corps fired those two workers, Heredia said.
Clients or past clients of Field+Media Corps in Arizona include several prominent Arizona voter advocacy groups, including LUCHA, Chispa AZ, and CPLC Action Fund, according to the company’s website.
This election cycle, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office has flagged FieldCorps, the parent company of Field+Media Corps, for submitting a high percentage of incomplete or inaccurate forms, office spokesperson Sierra Ciaramella confirmed Wednesday.
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With the focus on Pennsylvania as the potential key to the outcome of 2024’s presidential race, any issues raised regarding election integrity in the state are facing heightened scrutiny — as they should be. RedState will continue to follow this story and bring you additional updates as they become available.