Voter Fraud Report

A 1993 special Pennsylvania state senate election was overturned by a federal district court judge due to absentee ballot fraud. This election was important as the senate was evenly divided and the winner would determine which party controlled the senate. Campaign workers for Democratic candidate William Stimson engaged in a massive absentee ballot scheme involving nearly 600 tainted ballots. After a surprising and extraordinary surge in absentee ballots seemed to result in a victory for Stinson, an investigation was undertaken.  Stinson was indicted for his role in the scheme but was not convicted.  Two campaign workers, Ramon Pratt and Barbara Landers, were convicted of misdemeanor offenses.

In a related civil suit, however, a federal district court judge determined that Stinson and others engaged in a scheme to steal the election, and Stinson was removed from office.  The scheme primarily targeted Latino and black voters by using intimidation, and deception in order to fraudulently obtain and process absentee ballots in violation of state law. Two Democratic city commissioners, Margaret Tartaglione and Alexander Talmadge, Jr., and an elections supervisor, Dennis Kelly, were also found to have been complicit in allowing the fraud to occur.