Getting signatures is one of the hardest parts about running for office requiring hundreds and thousands of hours to complete, and further requiring hundreds of participants for some offices. Yet, a top Democrat was busted cheating the system.
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A Pennsylvania Attorney General has sat on a criminal case since 2019 where it was discovered that a political consultant committed fraud by collecting fake signatures, and just now announced criminal filings.
According to trending politics. Only days after a midterm election that dragged on for days beyond Election Day, Pennsylvania’s attorney announced the arrest of a Democratic consultant for orchestrating ‘widespread’ ballot fraud that included forging thousands of signatures.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Wednesday announced the arrest of Rasheen Crews, a Philadelphia-based Democratic consultant, for charges related to forging signatures on nomination petitions to get his clients on the ballot for the 2019 Democratic primary races in Philadelphia.
AG Shapiro stated “ In advance of the 2023 municipal elections, this arrest is an important reminder that interfering with the integrity of our elections is a serious crime, By soliciting and organizing the wide scale forgery of signatures, the defendant undermined the democratic process and Philadelphians’ right to a free and fair election. My office is dedicated to upholding the integrity of the election process across the Commonwealth, to ensure everyone can participate in Pennsylvania’s future.”
The Attorney General’s office went further, releasing an absolute bombshell of a statement.
“ An investigation by the Office of Attorney General found that in 2019, multiple candidates hired Crews to help them obtain the requisite amount of signatures needed for their nomination petitions for the Democratic primary races. Crews recruited individuals to help with the petition work, bringing them to a hotel room and asking them to write names, addresses, and forged signatures on multiple petitions, Crews then had these petitions notarized and filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State on behalf of his clients.”
Crews was charged with Criminal Solicitation to Commit Forgery and Theft By Failure to Make Required Disposition. The criminal case is being prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Thomas Ost-Prisco. As noted, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
We knew there were outstanding cases of this nature nationwide, but many attorney generals and others failed to bring them up. It is good to finally see that someone has a little backbone when it comes to upholding the law. Further, forged signatures are a rampant issue that is plaguing our nation during the petition process, and those crimes are very serious issues. The signatures determine who makes it on the ballot and who does not, and the first job of any elected official is to be a representative of the people, the signatures are a way to ensure that the people want the person on the ballot, not the other way around.
