Election deniers file petitions for 2022 vote recount in Lebanon County court

Recount petitions were filed in Lebanon County court, part of a statewide effort of election deniers to challenge the results for governor and U.S. Senator.

Five separate recount petitions were filed for the county's Palmyra North, Palmyra East, North Londonderry West, South Lebanon South and North Lebanon East precincts. Each petition has three registered Republican voters alleging there was fraud or error in the vote tabulation process.

At least 41 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties have reported getting petitions. There have been 147 filings as of Wednesday morning, according to a spokeswoman for the state courts system. These recounts have delayed certification of election results in some cases.

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The petitions, including the ones filed in Lebanon County, appear to be a standardized form with blank fields for individual filers to complete.

"Pursuant to 25 P.S. Section 3261, this Petition is based upon information that I believe to reliable and that makes me believe that fraud or error, although not manifest on the general return of votes made therefrom, was committed in the computation, canvassing, and tabulation of votes cast in the November 8, 2022 election," each verification statement of the petitions stated about the individual districts.

None of the petitions contain specific instances of fraud or error and do not include any corroborating evidence.

The petition requests focus on state races for governor and U.S. senate, which were won by Democrats Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman. In both those races their Republican opponents, Dr. Mehmet Oz and state Sen. Doug Mastriano, conceded their races.

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All five Lebanon County petitions were filed by lead plaintiff Joyce Massar, according to court documents. Massar, a Mastriano supporter, declined to answer questions about her petition when contacted by the Lebanon Daily News Tuesday evening.

Judges in some counties, including Columbia and Westmoreland, have ordered recounts. However, other counties, like York, have dismissed petitions for lack of evidence.

Petitioners have cited a section of election law that allows petitions to be easily filed. The provision allows three voters in any precinct to request a recount if they believe "fraud or error" occurred in the election.

"The statute does say to file the paperwork (the petitioners) don't have to present anything, as long as they pay the fee," said Sean Drasher, Lebanon County’s Bureau of Registration and Elections director. "But they came in after we were all done with everything at the county level ... we had everything certified here, (and) they came in afterwards."

County Solicitor David Warner will represent the Voter registration office in a public hearing next week.

There was no sense that these petitions would be filed before the results were certified, according to Drasher. He is confident that even if a recount were to occur, it would show the accuracy of the ballot counts.

Drasher said he believes petitioners are looking for a hand count because they allege the voting machine themselves are in error, but he hasn’t seen any red flags in the data he’s pulled.

The Pennsylvania Department of State did not have a comment about the hearing when reached by Lebanon Daily News reporters. However, in previous statements, the department has said that the 2022 midterm election was "free, fair and secure."

Drasher said that he's concerned about these new vague allegations of fraud, especially when there's "a lot of smoke with no fire."

"I want to be the first one to know if there's a problem, cause I want to go search it out myself," he said. "But when I'm looking at the numbers, you kind of look at the patterns and there's nothing. All the numbers are dead on where you expect them to be."

A hearing for the petitions is scheduled Thursday, Dec. 15 at 1:30 p.m. before President Judge John Tylwalk in Courtroom 1 at the Lebanon County Courthouse.

Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on Twitter at @DAMattToth.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Election deniers file petitions for 2022 vote recount in county court