ALLENTOWN, PA - It’s a tight race for the 22nd State House District Democratic nomination in Lehigh County where results are too close to call. A software issue initially had the county reporting at 100 percent but there are still many mail in ballots left to count.
"It’s still not over," says Enid Santiago, "They’re still counting votes."
Incumbent Peter Schweyer is getting a run for his money by political newcomer and community organizer Enid Santiago; who is addressing concerns of voter suppression and issues she says her campaign volunteers ran into at the polls Tuesday.
"They did a very good job at documenting a lot of the issues that we were dealing with," Santiago tells PBS39 News Tonight Reporter, K.C. Lopez, "They started with Fearless Fire Company at 7AM that is the highest precinct for my entire district, the highest polling location. They did not open until close to 8AM so from the very beginning, we started seeing voters leaving frustrated because they were not able to vote."
Some of those concerns include a side table of hand sanitizer and pens with Schweyer’s name and face on them left outside the Lehigh County Government Center in Allentown. A political strategy that some would say was a clever move by the incumbent’s supporters amid a global pandemic but Santiago’s team questions if technically allowed by campaign rules. Santaigo says she plans to file an official complaint against a Judge of Elections at the Lehigh County Clerk’s office who she says she witnessed circling names on ballots that were rejected from voting machines.
"Nothing was done, nothing was done right then and there. I don’t know what happened between 7 and noon, that this person--god knows how many ballots she filled in," Santiago explains, "You cannot do that. You can’t fill in any ballot for anyone and now put it in the machine. She said, I’m just correcting it. [Schweyer] had boxes outside of polling locations with pens and hand sanitizers and I want to make it clear that I am not attacking Mr. Schweyer because I am not saying that he sent someone to do this at all but this is what I witnessed myself; this Judge of Election was outside picking up his pens and taking them inside the polling location."
Santiago also tells PBS39 she is weighing filing another complaint after incorrect ballots were used at the LANTA polling station that did not include Schweyer or Santiago’s names.
"People were told, just write the names on the back," Santiago tells Lopez, "So what happens if someone is looking for the Latina candidate, since I was the only Latina name on the ballot, and didn’t remember--they just knew it was the Latina?"
When asked about these allegations, Timothy Benyo, the county’s Chief Clerk said, “As always, I’m happy to investigate any formal complaints within my authority. I’ve not received any written complaints at this time.”
Requests for an interview with Representative Schweyer were made by PBS39, but left unanswered Wednesday afternoon.
