Lt. Gov. Fetterman seeks claim of $1M voter fraud reward from Texas lieutenant governor

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is asking for his share of a reward after he offered up a case of voter fraud to Republican Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick via Twitter. Patrick had announced that he is giving out $1 million in rewards for information that leads to voter fraud arrests and convictions.

“Hey, Governor Patrick — it’s your counterpart in Pennsylvania,” tweeted Fetterman, a Democrat. “I’d like to collect your handsome reward for reporting voter fraud. I got a dude in Forty Fort, PA who tried to have his dead mom vote for Trump. I’d like mine in Sheetz gift cards pls.”

Hey, Governor Patrick- it’s your counterpart in Pennsylvania.

I’d like to collect your handsome reward for reporting voter fraud.

I got a dude in Forty Fort, PA who tried to have his dead mom vote for Trump.

I’d like mine in Sheetz gift cards pls.

ps. The Cowboys blow. https://t.co/Y21Q3ZkSEH

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 10, 2020

Fetterman referenced a case in Luzerne County where 67-year-old Robert Richard Lynn is charged with signing the name of his mother, who had died in May 2015, on an absentee ballot application, according to Fox 8 News. Lynn — a registered Republican — is charged with forgery and interference with primaries/elections, court documents show.

In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Fetterman said state officials have not seen any other cases of voter fraud.

"If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, the President would be on deck to have a better Thanksgiving... math doesn't care about his feelings... the math in Pennsylvania is damning for the President."

- Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. @JohnFetterman on Trump failing to concede the election pic.twitter.com/PY1fZG0Z8d

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) November 11, 2020

“If you put out a bounty or a reward for voter fraud, I decided that I was going to take him at his word, given that we’re both lieutenant governors, and I said, ‘Well we’ve got some for you here in Pennsylvania.’ I wanted to make sure he was aware of it,” Fetterman told the Tribune-Review.

He added that he does not expect Patrick to respond.

“They don’t want that kind of voter fraud,” said Fetterman, the former mayor of Braddock. “You can believe if that was a registered Democrat who tried to vote for Biden with his dead mother’s ballot, that would be front page news everywhere in those circles.”

Patrick announced his offer Tuesday, which is in defense of President Trump’s unsupported claims of voter fraud in the presidential election, The Associated Press reported. Trump is refusing to concede after Joe Biden was announced president-elect over the weekend.

Claims of voter fraud have come to a head in Pennsylvania after the Trump administration issued several lawsuits stating that election observers were not given adequate access as votes were counted in Philadelphia. Trump also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the state Supreme Court’s three-day extension for receiving mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 is legal.

Across the state, the administration filed lawsuits this week targeting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the boards of elections in Allegheny, Centre, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Northampton and Philadelphia counties. The suits state there was an illegal, two-tiered voting system that treated those who submitted mail-in ballots differently from those who voted in person, essentially devaluing in-person votes.

Lawsuits were also filed by the administration and Republicans across the country in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada for various claims including lack of transparency and counting ballots received after the election deadline, NPR reported.

Despite those claims, there have been no reports of widespread voter fraud.

“At some point we all have to collectively accept that yelling voter fraud when there is no evidence whatsoever of it is yelling fire in a crowded theater and it is harming the democratic franchise of our country and the peaceful transition of power,” Fetterman said on CNN. “We cannot accept that.”