re: Pennsylvania Secretary of State steps down amid illegal voting scandal.

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Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt pushed the issue into the spotlight three weeks ago when he announced that his staff found 317 noncitizens who had canceled their voter registrations in the city from 2006. The data dates back to 2006 because that is when the state started using the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, which provides reliable statistics about voters in the state. In Allegheny County, election officials found 96 cases of noncitizens canceling their voter registrations since 2006. The Department of State then said it had records of 1,160 canceled voter registrations listing ineligibility as a reason and said the issue was under review. Schmidt’s office found documentation from 220, either through direct contact or via an attorney, canceling the voter registrations. Of those 220, 44 voted in one election and 46 voted in more than one election. All of the 317 registrations have been canceled. Schmidt said his staff traced the problem for 168 of the 220 documented cases to PennDot centers, where they produced immigration documents to show they were in this country legally and eligible for a driver’s license. Later in the process, the applicants were asked to check a box on an electronic kiosk if they also wanted to register to vote. That is part of “Motor Voter,” a federal law passed that has been in effect since 1995 to encourage voter registration.

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