Rep. Pitts decries last-minute tactic to keep Lancaster seniors from voting
Weekend calls urged seniors to stay home Tuesday
LANCASTER, PA – Congressman Joe Pitts (PA-16) made the following statement
today regarding multiple reports of deceitful calls to Lancaster County
seniors apparently designed to suppress turnout in this heavily Republican
county. Several reports were received by a Lancaster County elected official
today from seniors complaining that callers had told them that “problems”
had been identified with their registrations and that they might be wasting
their time in trying to vote this year. Congressman Pitts is the Lancaster
County Chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign.
“This is the lowest kind of last-minute dirty trick I can think of,” said
Congressman Pitts. “John Kerry has no plan to win the War on Terror and no
plan to grow Pennsylvania’s economy. So Democrats are trying to deceive
seniors into thinking they cannot vote on Tuesday. Pennsylvanians have long
known Kerry is willing to do anything he thinks will help him politically.
Wrongly telling seniors they are not registered to vote crosses the line.
“It’s not surprising that Kerry’s supporters would want seniors to stay away
from the polls on Tuesday considering Kerry’s repeated support for higher
taxes on Social Security benefits and Kerry’s opposition to the President’s
prescription drug bill. Outrageous scare tactics aren’t going to stop
seniors from voting for President Bush, who has always stood up for
seniors.”
Congressman Pitts surmised that the complaints received Sunday indicated a
much larger volume of misleading calls.
“These calls were clearly targeted, which suggests that this is a
sophisticated effort to keep seniors from the polls in Lancaster County.
Anyone who is concerned that there might be a problem with their
registration should go to the polls anyway. If there is a problem, they can
ask for a provisional ballot.”