Routine post-election maintenance has resulted in thousands of voter registrants being removed from Pennsylvania voter rolls.
People who advocated for the removal of voters from Pennsylvania’s voter rolls are celebrating thousands of such removals made by counties within the past month. County officials say the removals are actually a result of routine post-election voter roll maintenance.
In order, Delaware, Cumberland, Monroe, Northampton, Adams, and Beaver counties had the most voters removed from the rolls. This was according to an email sent by the Election Research Institute that revealed a total of 11,878 out-of-state registrants were removed from Pennsylvania voter rolls.
Election officials did not confirm the numbers outlined in the email, but they said the removals were the result of routine voter roll cleaning required by law.
Jim Allen, elections director for Delaware County, said, “I’m glad they consider us restoring their confidence, but at the same time, we never did anything to take away from their confidence.”
After every federal election, counties remove inactive voters from the rolls in order to adhere to state law and the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
Cumberland County’s election director, Bethany Salzarulo, said self-described election integrity advocates had asked the county to remove voters from the rolls earlier in the summer. The county declined because the request was not in line with federal law.
Salzarulo said, “There are people who, let’s say for example, are in the military, who are allowed to keep a home of residence here in Pennsylvania but obviously live or are stationed elsewhere.”
By late September, the Cumberland County election office had received a “minimum of 50 calls” from people who were confused or angry about receiving letters relating to the effort. Salzarulo said the calls distracted her staff from preparing for the upcoming election.
