Democratic Westmoreland commissioner: GOP-spurred double-voting probe a waste of time

An investigation by Westmoreland County detectives into possible voter fraud prompted by a Republican state representative finding duplicate names in voting rolls in Westmoreland is a waste of time, the county’s Democratic commissioner said Friday.

Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, initiated the probe by the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office.

“You would think Eric Nelson would realize that throughout the state, people share the same name (such as Nelson). It would be better … to preserve county resources than to indulge his (Nelson’s) paranoid illusions,” Democratic Commissioner Ted Kopas said. “Look around, there are more pressing actual crimes to pursue.”

Kopas, who sits on the bipartisan county elections board, said he is confident the county’s elections are safe. Republican claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election have not been proven.

Nelson said he is disappointed with Kopas’ skepticism about the investigation. He said it evolved out of research he and state Rep. Jamie Flick, R-Williamsport, did in reviewing the voter rolls in Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio for duplicate names and birth dates.

“It’s disappointing that the county commissioner does not support election integrity. A felony is a felony,” Nelson said.

Nelson and Flick worked on the research that searched for duplicate names and birth dates of voters in Pennsylvania’s voter registration rolls and in 13 counties in eastern Ohio, which could allow someone to vote twice, Nelson said.

Nelson claimed that it’s not uncommon for some people in Pennsylvania to be able to vote in multiple counties, as well as other states, because of the lack of sharing of election information among counties and states.

“The key is that the state should cooperate in election integrity with other states,” as Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and Alabama have done, Nelson said.

But Pennsylvania is part of such an effort. Pennsylvania is one of 25 states that are part of the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan agency that compiles and shares election data to ensure the accuracy of voting rolls.

But a handful of Republican-led states have withdrawn from the system in recent years over concerns related to election integrity.

“Our goal is to prevent anyone from double voting,” Nelson said.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The investigation in the duplicate names on voting rolls in Westmoreland County and in eastern Ohio is continuing, chief county detective Ron Zona said. He would not discuss the investigation further.

District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli, a Republican, defended her office’s use of the county detectives to investigate the matter.

“Elections need to be safe and fair for everyone, and we need to protect the integrity of every election. We do not pick and choose which suspected criminal cases are investigated.

“If there is a suspected violation of the law, we investigate each case equally and thoroughly,” Ziccarelli said.

Other district attorneys across the state are prosecuting similarly suspected crimes, Ziccarelli said.

In addition to the duplicate names in Westmoreland County, Nelson said the research found that there were 26 potential duplicate names in Allegheny County and the counties in Ohio.

Nelson and Flick also met with representatives of state Attorney General Michelle Henry to discuss the issue they raised of the possibility double voting could occur, Nelson said.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office could not be reached for comment.

“We want to make it extremely difficult to vote across county and state lines,” Nelson said.