A conservative activist group, armed with what it said was a tip and a video from an Erie postal worker, has raised a claim of election tampering, Go Erie reports.
The group is Project Veritas, founded by James O’Keefe in 2010 and known for undercover-style reporting and video, sometimes secretly recorded, used to reveal what it sees as liberal bias.
The name of the postal worker making the claim has not been made public. His face is digitally altered and his voice distorted in a video interview with O’Keefe that was released Wednesday.
The postal worker told O’Keefe he was working nearby when he heard a supervisor and Erie Postmaster Robert Weisenbach discussing what to do with a number of voter ballots that had arrived after Tuesday’s deadline. According to the Pennsylvania state website, those ballots had to be postmarked by Tuesday in order to be counted.
The postal employee said he heard the two discussing that they had postmarked some late-arriving ballots as Nov. 4. He goes on to suggest — without proof — the suspicion that those late-arriving ballots were supposed to be given an earlier postmark and forwarded to the election office.
Erie County Clerk of Elections Doug Smith said his office was accepting ballots until 5 p.m. Friday so long as they had been postmarked Nov. 3 or earlier.
Postal Service officials provided a brief statement.
“The U.S. Postal Service is aware of the video, which has been referred to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Office of Inspector General,” Pittsburgh-based spokesman Tad Kelley said.
Anderson said he “stands by the processes of the Erie County Elections Department that will bring the unofficial count to a close today.”
A statement from Anderson described the Postal Service and Postmaster Weisenbach as “responsive and helpful.”
He continued: “I believe the processes they use will stand as legitimate under scrutiny. We will continue to do our work and not get distracted by outside noise.”
Smith said the election office had received about 130 ballots after Election Day. Those ballots are being counted for now, because of an extension granted by Gov. Tom Wolf for any ballot postmarked by Nov. 3. Depending on the outcome of pending litigation, those votes can easily be set aside, he said.
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