Pennsylvania Vote Count Contains 40K-Plus Discrepancies; ‘We Need to Get to the Bottom of Why That Is the Case’

by W.J. Kennedy

As part of a state-by-state review of the 2020 General Election results, the non-profit Voter Reference Foundation (VRF) has discovered 41,503 discrepancies between the Pennsylvania voters officially recorded as having cast ballots and the total ballots certified per the state’s official canvass.

Of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, the VRF audit shows 57 of them certified more ballots cast in last November’s election than their records report registered voters as having voted.

VRF Executive Director Gina Swoboda said they have yet to determine the reason for the discrepancies.

“It is important to understand that we are publishing official county and state voting records,” Swoboda, a former Arizona election official under two administrations, told Keystone Today. “Basic accounting principles suggest the numbers we are comparing should match and they don’t. We need to get to the bottom of why that is the case.”

In compiling the voter registration lists from counties and states after the election and certification process, VRF, which publishes VoteRef.com is comparing whether the number of ballots certified in 2020 matches the number of voters. In Pennsylvania, VRF compared the number of voters reported on voter registration lists collected in early 2021 to the number of ballots cast per the states’ official canvasses, certified in December 2020.

The discrepancy could be even higher in Pennsylvania, Swoboda said; it would be 56,812 if the VRF “didn’t count” 15,309 voters whose records were missing either the correct voting date or method of voting on the registration list. VRF speculated that those voters cast ballots in 2020, but the records are inconclusive.

The largest discrepancies were found in Allegheny (6,413), Philadelphia (5,747) and Delaware (4,869) counties.

Officials in the Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office did not respond to a request to explain the discrepancies.

In Nevada, whose official vote counts were the first analyzed by VRF, a discrepancy of 8,964 was found between voters on the registration lists and ballots certified by the state. In all states examined so far, discrepancies exist. Those discrepancies will be revealed as other states’ voter rolls are published in coming weeks, Swoboda said. VoteRef plans to publish a significant number of state rolls by the end of 2021.

VoteRef.com is a permanent reference source operated by VRF. Swoboda said that those who access the website can search by name or address for registered voters. They also will be able to examine voting histories — a list of elections that voters participated in, as well as other important election data obtained via official sources.

The VRF was created by Restoration Action, an educational 501c4 organization founded by West Point graduate and successful entrepreneur Doug Truax. A former U.S. Senate candidate in Illinois, Truax has promoted a 10-point plan for election reform.

More Pennsylvania ballots cast than voters who voted? 

Source: Voter Reference Foundation / VoteRef.com

* Precinct Oak Hall in Clarion County appears in voter files but is not included in state election results, resulting in 0 Total Ballots Certified for the precinct.

** State results show one voter who is not assigned to a precinct in Franklin County, PA

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W.J. Kennedy is a reporter at The Keystone Today. 

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