PHILADELPHIA, PA — An investigation by the Washington Reformer found that at least 1,413 Pennsylvania voters over 100 years old were sent mail-in ballots for the 2020 general election, including three reportedly born before the Civil War. The number of these registrations corresponding to deceased individuals is currently unknown.
Public data from the Pennsylvania Secretary of State shows one voter born in 1800, two in the 1850s, nine in the 1890s, and 25 in 1900. Some records, including 58 voters listed as being born on January 1, 1800, are used for confidentiality purposes, such as protecting victims of domestic violence.
Pennsylvania officials approved mail-in ballot applications for all these voters, though it is unclear whether any were marked as provisional. The state’s oldest living resident, Ardith Grose, is 113 years old, yet at least 51 active registrations belong to individuals older than that, recorded as having cast ballots in 2020.
Critics have questioned the legitimacy of these registrations. Similar discrepancies in other states, including Michigan, have been dismissed by media outlets like The New York Times and the BBC as clerical errors or duplicate names. However, election experts say such anomalies highlight vulnerabilities in the voting system.
According to Secretary of State data, 276,680 voters over age 80 requested ballots, with 71,623 filing applications online, which requires submitting a Pennsylvania driver’s license or PennDOT ID. The presence of voters with implausible birth dates raises concerns about the integrity of the state’s online ballot request process.
Experts say investigating each questionable registration is essential to determine whether discrepancies reflect clerical errors or potentially illegitimate votes. Similar voter roll issues have been documented in other states, including West Virginia, where tens of thousands of outdated registrations were removed.
Election observers argue that cleaning voter rolls and investigating irregularities is critical to maintaining public trust in Pennsylvania’s election system.
