‘It’s a Felony:’ A New Lawsuit, with Video Evidence, Alleges Delaware County, Pennsylvania Election Officials Destroyed Voting Records

A lawsuit alleging multiple violations of federal and state election laws, as well as Pennsylvania’s “Right to Know” statute, was filed in Delaware County Court of Pennsylvania Wednesday night, according to sources familiar with the litigation.

The suit (case number: 187701637235922978) was brought by plaintiffs Gregory Stenstrom, Leah Hoopes and Ruth Morin. Stenstrom, a 2020 Republican poll watcher, has been outspoken in recent months regarding alleged irregularities in ballot canvassing in Delaware County. Defendants include election officials Marilyn Heider and James Ziegelhoffer as well as Delaware County, the Delaware County Board of Elections and the Delaware County Bureau of Elections.

In early 2021, a whistleblower working for the Delaware County Bureau of Elections began inquiring why it was apparent to her that multiple documents pertaining to the Nov. 3, 2020 elections were being destroyed in the southeastern Pennsylvania county, the sources said. The name of the whistleblower has not yet been made public.

In May, a third-party attorney filed a request via Pennsylvania’s public-transparency law, asking for election data and records for last November’s elections. In particular, the request asked for return sheets, the official documents on which election results are recorded, as well as voting-machine tapes showing the in-person vote totals for each precinct.

According to the videos and the sources regarding the lawsuit, many such records were actually destroyed because Delaware County officials violated numerous election laws and needed to hide evidence of their violations. The alleged destruction of records was, the sources say, done to ensure that the records eventually provided actually matched the election results that were reported in Nov. 2020.

Pennsylvania law requires that voting records be preserved for 11 months after an election and federal law demands that such records be preserved for 22 months after an election. Pennsylvania law also requires that voting records be preserved for 11 months after an election and federal law demands that such records be preserved for 22 months after an election. Records in Delaware County were also required to be preserved per a prior lawsuit in which Stenstrom alleged election irregularities.

One video provided by the more recent lawsuit’s sources shows Tom Gallagher, a lawyer and election official in Delaware County, destroying elongated pieces of paper – allegedly the voting-machine tapes election officials are required to preserve. In that recording, the whistleblower asks Gallagher off-camera why he is tearing up the documents. Gallagher replies, “At this point, I don’t want anybody to pick it up and think that we threw stuff away.”

Another election official, James Ziegelhoffer (identified in the video as “Ziggy”), then says, “We’re gonna have a little campfire going.”

“What I don’t understand – and this makes, honestly, this makes me nervous – is why tapes were being thrown away,” the whistleblower is shown asking Ziegelhoffer in a second video.

Ziegelhoffer began to protest that “no tapes were…,” and the whistleblower interjected that Ziegelhoffer and other election officials were throwing away tapes and she again asked why they did so.

Ziegelhoffer replied, “They’re all unidentifiable.” After the whistleblower pointed out that all election records have to be preserved for 22 months, Ziegelhoffer said, “Well, let’s put it this way: Yes, there are tapes that are being tossed, but they are of no audit value.” 

One source involved in the litigation said that by “no audit value,” he means the numbers contained on the tapes will not match election results publicized last autumn.

That video goes on to display still shots of voting-machine tapes in a garbage bin; a box labeled “misc[ellaneous] scanner tapes not attached to return sheets, Nov. 3, 2020;” a return sheet with a handwritten note reading “11/14/2020, more than 300 blank ballots received” and ballot-return envelopes torn up and inside a garbage bin. A final still shot shows a handwritten note stating, “There is a discrepancy in total ballots received because ballot box and return sheet indicate 300 received but 330 blank ballots returned—11/14/2020.”

A third recording captures a conversation between county Voting Machine Warehouse Supervisor and Jim Savage and Director of Election Operations James Allen about disposing of “pads and second scanners.” After Allen mentions those materials, Savage replies, “We can’t talk about it anymore.” When Allen asks him why, Savage says, “It’s a felony.”

A fourth video shows Gallager speaking to the whistleblower off-camera saying that another county official handed him a box of election records and told him it was missing vDrives from at least the communities of Chester, Haverford and Folcroft. (VDrives electronically contain information tabulated by the voting machines.) The whistleblower inquired of Gallagher why those vDrives are missing and Gallagher responds, “I have no idea.”

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Bradley Vasoli is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].

 

 

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12 Thoughts to “‘It’s a Felony:’ A New Lawsuit, with Video Evidence, Alleges Delaware County, Pennsylvania Election Officials Destroyed Voting Records”

  1. Orion Spitz

    State legislatures need to get some balls. With all the proof of mass, coordinated election cheating, several states are justified to decertify the election results. You can be sure that these election thieves are in the process of refining their techniques in preparation for the next election. It is really up to state legislatures to compile and publish the evidence and declare that the 2020 election was stolen beyond any doubt.

  2. […] One video in the suit shows a conversation between the Delaware County Voting Machine Warehouse Supervisor Jim Savage and one “James Allen,” the county Director of Election Operations, discussing the “disposing of pads and scanners.”  After Allen refers to those materials targeted for disposal, Savage says: “We can’t talk about it anymore.”  And when Allen asks him why, Savage replies: “It’s a felony.” […]

  3. Dr Ken

    I keep hearing about one entity after another filing action against county/state election commissions in multiple states. Are any of these cases being heard? I suspect when one domino falls the others will tumble as well. There needs to be resolution before the next election. Even with a court ruling I doubt little can be done with the last election. The democrats will stall, appeal and delay any decision specific to the last election. Needed though is a ruling that will force changes before the next election.

  4. Tomas GIlbert

    Isn’t Savage the same guy who is suing Trump for calling him out on his fraud? This is rich…

  5. Random Citizen

    Joe Biden stole the 2020 election through massive fraud. Anyone who claims otherwise is either a dupe or a traitor.

  6. Patricia Cox

    Why is our Great Nation allowing the Liberals to get away with stealing the election and destroying America. Our Constitution tells us to stop them, but they are getting by with ignoring and trying to destroy our Constitution and American Citizens!

    1. Blanca Domínguez

      Exactly!! We have plenty of proof that they committed Fraud to gain control of the country, where is the Justice Department!!!

      1. Dee

        Forget the Justice Dept. They are in on the steal. Conducting predawn raids on conservative journalists using the Patriot Act which is only supposed to be used for foreign terrorists. Justice Dept. getting involved in Joe Biden’s daughters lost diary which was either lost or stolen, when such a crime is a state or local investigation, not federal. Justice Dept. is now a political arm of the Democrap party and MSM.

    2. Joanne

      Where are our men?
      How long must we wait?

      1. Mark Glogowski

        We have to wait until voters decide to vote for Libertarians instead of Dems and Reps.

  7. Manrico A Troncelliti Jr

    Why do I have read this article in a paper other than the Philadelphia Inquirer or the Delco Times? Because the local papers are run by left wing loons.

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