When voter registration activist Scott Presler saw the number of registered Democrats in Pennsylvania jumped 15,245 last week alone — and 14,645 were in Philadelphia — he wondered what was up.
So, he posted the voter numbers to X.
“Here’s what I do know: Thousands of people that were removed from active to inactive since the beginning of January in Philadelphia County,” Presler said. “And then all of a sudden, within the last week (they were back on), and so I literally just took a screenshot of the information, and as you can see, it went from 702,060 active voters in Philadelphia to 716,703 within one week’s time.”
After he shared the chart on X, Elon Musk reposted it, commenting, “Shady.”
“Did the County of Philadelphia just transfer back those inactive voters that were active but then marked as inactive? And now they’re active again?”
“God bless them if they’re able to process 14,000 applications in one week,” Presler said to DV Journal. “They must be working overtime.”
“It’s a mystery why these people went from active to inactive, and now they’re active again,” said Presler, who, with his group, Early Vote Action, has been working to increase GOP registrations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Whatever the reason, election officials from both parties say all is well.
Seth Bluestein, Philadelphia Republican Minority Commissioner, said on X, “Voter Registration staff have been conducting routine list maintenance over the past couple months. These are eligible, registered voters who participated in the November 2024 election or updated their registration. They have correctly been moved from inactive to active status.”
Also on X, referring to the May 20 primary, retired police Sgt. Mark Fusetti mentioned, “Some Republicans may be switching from R to D to vote out DA Krasner. You should see a big bump back to R after May.”
Responding to an email, Philadelphia Commissioner Chairman Omar Sabir said, “Every year, the Commissioners’ Voter Registration staff conducts routine list maintenance of voter records. Typically, a voter is designated as inactive if they have not voted in five years or if election officials do not receive a response to address verification notices.
“It is important to note, however, that both active and inactive voters are registered, eligible voters. When an inactive voter participates in an election or updates their record, their status is changed back to active. That’s what happened here. The process ensures that voter rolls accurately reflect current voter activity and residency. To be clear, while your question references Democratic voters, the recent update includes Democratic, Republican, and non-affiliated voters across the city.”
Told of the Philadelphia officials’ explanation, Presler said, “And it took three months to do that? OK.”
Earlier this week, Presler visited the White House and brought up voter fraud.
“Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote a note and said she was going to make sure that she passes it directly to the president,” he said.
“I want my audience to know that I’m fighting for them, and I’m bringing up the issues they care about the most with the people that represent us in our government…I’m their voice.”
