State Senator Karen Peterson (D-Stanton) is asking Attorney General Matt Denn’s (D) office to look into possible voter fraud in the Red Clay School School District referendum passed by voters last week.
Peterson says her request follows multiple complaints from her constituents, who say voters may have taken advantage of loopholes in the system that technically allow them to vote more than once.
"In a referendum you can vote at any of the schools in the district, you’re not assigned a polling place, so your name appears on every list at every one of the polling places. So conceivably people could vote more than once in an election," said Peterson.
Peterson says she plans to introduce legislation in the General Assembly in April to address the issue, which she says could have big consequences in elections with lower turnout.
"If it were a concerted effort it could be an attempt to throw the election. The referendum was passed by only 880 out of 12,000 votes, so conceivably if 441 people voted more than once, it could have affected the outcome of the election, said Peterson.
The referendum passed by voters in Red Clay will raise taxes 35 cents per $100 of assessed property value over three years. Residents in the Christina School District voted to reject a similar referendum last week.