Voters waiting in lines in Bucks County may see people with official looking badges on lanyards.
These people are not county election workers. They are Democratic operatives, some reportedly from as far afield as Massachusetts.
“If you look carefully, you’ll see it says ‘PA Dems’ on it,” said Pat Poprik, chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee. “People with questions see it says ‘Voter Protection’ and walk up to them. But then they make their pitch.”
They are allowed to be outside but in some cases, they’ve come inside the polling places and were asked to leave, said Poprik.
They are allowed to talk to voters outside but the ‘Voter Protection’ causes people to think they are voting officials and come over to them, she said.
“They’re as partisan as I am,” Poprik said. Once voters talk to them, instead of helping them, they give a pitch to vote for Democrats.
Voter registration in Bucks County recently flipped from majority Democrat to majority Republican. It is one of the counties that voter registration activist Scott Presler concentrated on. And Pennsylvania GOP Chair Lawrence Tabas said he’s been working toward narrowing the registration gap since he was elected to that position five years ago.
Five years ago, when he was elected state chair, the Democrats’ registration edge was more than 815,000. Now it’s down to 281,091.
Guy Ciarrocchi, a Republican strategist, said the Democratic operatives with lanyards are also showing up at polling places in Cumberland and Pike counties.
A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not respond when asked to comment Tuesday.
