Voter fraud complaint knocked down

By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — The Pike County Elections Office received a complaint about possible voter fraud during last year’s Milford Borough municipal elections.
A letter included in the packet at the Jan. 3 county commissioners' meeting alleged that fraud may have influenced the election outcome. But an investigation by the Election Board, which was reviewed by District Attorney Ray Tonkin, did not agree.
“There is no evidence there was a concentrated effort to register voters unlawfully to impact the outcome of the 2017 Municipal Election in Milford Borough," said the letter from Pike County Board of Elections.
The letter, which was made available to the press but not discussed at the meeting, named 46 people suspected of voter fraud. The Election Board investigated their records, and found that:
Out of the 46, eight voted in the municipal election
Out of the eight who voted, three were also registered to vote in New York State, but none of the three also voted in New York. They were able to lawfully vote in Pike County because they had residential addresses in Milford Borough.
The other five had voted previously in Milford Borough elections, but four were registered commercial addresses and one was an address “that could not be located at a physical location.”
The letter states that the Board of Elections is “taking action to educate each of the five registered voters” that they need to take corrective action. It said the District Attorney will take action, with possible criminal prosecution, if they use non-residential addresses to vote in future. The letter was signed by the three commissioners, Chair Matt Osterberg, Richard Cardini, and Steven Guccini.
A call to Pike County Board of Elections Director Gary Orben was not returned by press time.
In another voting complaint lodged last year, about Election Day 2016, Delaware Valley Democratic Club member Reginald Cheong-Leen told commissioners that voters were forced to stand in long lines because there were not enough voting machines per voting precinct in the county. The commissioners denied the charge, producing a spreadsheet that showed there were enough machines.
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