Donald Trump makes false claims about ballots in Lancaster County in Truth Social post

Lancaster County was not “caught with 2,600 counterfeit ballots and forms, all written by the same person” as former President Donald Trump claimed on Truth Social Monday night.

Trump, who has a long history of spreading false information about Pennsylvania elections, targeted Lancaster and York counties, both of which have reported encountering voter registration applications that showed signs of fraud.

He doubled down on the false claims Tuesday during a press conference in Drexel Hill.

“There are some bad places in Pennsylvania where serious cases have been or are currently being arrested,” he said.

But Trump’s post drastically overstated the documents involved and went beyond reality by falsely claiming that Lancaster County had experienced “counterfeit ballots.”

Last week, Lancaster County officials made the announcement were reviewing two batches of voter registration applications, a total of 2,500 registrations, which were received just before the registration deadline.

The prosecutor said the applications in these batches showed possible signs of fraud, including duplicate handwriting and false names and addresses, but did not say how many applications were suspected to be fraudulent. Instead, they said all ballots in the batches were reviewed.

The batches were submitted by a voter group that paid workers to collect applications, but officials did not name the group. It is not unusual, especially during presidential elections, for paid employees of such groups to submit fabricated job applications.

However, these applications are not the same as ballots and there is no evidence that they have led to widespread voter fraud. Generally, experts say they are intercepted by officials or result in someone being added to the voter list and then removed for inactivity.

“It’s a serious problem and it undermines the integrity of voter registration. It puts more pressure on election officials to catch this fraud,” said Michael Morley, an election law expert at Florida State University. “But even if it gets through, that’s the end of the line. It is not part of a bigger picture to steal the election.”

The province’s research shows that the system works to prevent fraud. And despite the plea in Trump’s post to involve the police, they are already investigating.

Trump’s message also mentioned thousands of potentially fraudulent registration forms and ballots in York County.

York County Commissioner Julie Wheeler told the York County Dispatch as of last week, the county had received thousands of forms, including registration and voting applications, and was carefully reviewing the materials to ensure there was no evidence of fraud.

If suspected fraud was identified, Wheeler said, police would be contacted.

The false claims come as disinformation about the 2024 election increases, often driven by Trump and his allies. Election officials have warned that such claims sow distrust in the system and could lead to political violence.

Staff writer Rob Tornoe contributed to the reporting.