Boockvar: Pa. has ‘a very strong process in place’ to secure integrity of the vote

Pennsylvania is in the home stretch of its presidential race, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said at a Thursday evening press conference.

About 326,000 mail-in ballots remain to be counted in the state, which is already facing a wave of litigation from Republicans and President Donald Trump over the state’s voting process.

Trump in particular has hammered away, without evidence, at the security of voting by mail. Pennsylvania only expanded access to mail-in ballots to all voters in 2019, as part of a bipartisan compromise between the GOP-controlled General Assembly and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Boockvar reinforced the methods that counties used to make sure that there isn’t mistakes or fraud in voting by mail Thursday.

“No matter how they voted, we have very strong processes in ple to make sure that voting integrity and security are constantly followed in every county in the state,” Boockvar said.

As is, Pennsylvania voters must apply to vote by mail, including providing a Social Security number or driver’s license number. That data is then checked against databases and voter records to make sure the voter is who they say they are, Boockvar said.

After the ballot is approved, sent out, and returned, counties do one last check as well.

“The strength and integrity of this vote is really unparalleled,” Boockvar said.

Boockvar said she was only aware of one example of fraud so far, from late October in Luzerne County.

In that case, a man was arrested for forging his dead mother’s signature on an absentee ballot application.