DA files charges against Allentown elections judge

Dots on ballots in Pa. House race were darkened

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin on Monday announced charges against an elections judge in Allentown’s 3rd Ward who was accused of tampering with ballots during the Democratic primary race for state representative between Enid Santiago and Peter Schweyer.

Everett “Erika” Bickford was charged with two election code violations: insertion and alteration of entries in documents, and prying into ballots, both misdemeanors.

During an interview with detectives, Bickford said she did not alter any ballots or change the voter’s choices, but admitted darkening some bubbles they chose, Martin said in a news release. She estimated that she darkened voters’ bubbles about 30 times, Martin said. Bickford also said she “trimmed” ballots’ jagged edges so the machine would accept them.

Bickford was not charged with altering or changing votes to favor either

Schweyer or Santiago, who were vying for the Democratic nomination for the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s 22nd District.

Detectives examined all of the ballots cast at the 3rd Ward polling place and found no evidence of erasure marks, whiteout, or any other indications of a double vote in any of the races listed on the ballot, Martin said. They also found no spoiled, or discarded, ballots.

Santiago has maintained that Bickford “stole the election” on behalf of Schweyer, whom Bickford supports. Schweyer defeated Santiago by just 55 votes, or 1.26 percentage points. In the 3rd Ward, however, Santiago received 95 votes to Schweyer’s 52. Of the 85 ballots cast at the Lehigh Valley Government Center, the 3rd Ward polling place Bickford oversaw, Schweyer received 22 votes to Santiago’s 63.

Bickford, 69, said Monday afternoon that she will not resign as an elections judge and would plead not guilty because she acted with good intentions and did nothing immoral. Martin filed the charges Monday in the office of south Allentown District Judge David M. Howells Jr. Bickford was arraigned and released on her own recognizance.

Santiago, who is now running a write-in campaign against Schweyer, was not available to comment Monday. But in a Facebook post about Martin’s announcement, she again criticized the county elections board for certifying the primary election results despite “fraud against my campaign.”

“This will not stop us from winning on November 3rd,” she wrote. “We need everyone to stand together against corruption and write-in ‘Enid Santiago’ come election day.”

Schweyer declined to comment.

In addition to asking Martin and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro to investigate Bickford for alleged ballot tampering, the Lehigh County

Board of Elections hired an independent auditor to examine votes cast in the city’s 1st and 3rd wards because of discrepancies in the number of ballots cast and the number of voters present as reported by the elections board and Department of State.

Timothy Benyo, Lehigh County’s chief clerk of elections, said he expects the audit to be completed Wednesday, but wasn’t sure when its findings will be released.

Shapiro deferred the investigation to the county district attorney’s office and did not conduct a separate one, a spokesman said Monday.

Under state law, an elections judge must be removed from office if convicted of “misbehavior in office or any infamous crime.” Lehigh County solicitor Tom Caffrey said he believes the charges filed against Bickford meet this definition, and that she would need to resign if convicted.

Benyo said someone is prepared to replace Bickford if she is convicted.

When an elections judge position is vacated more than five days before an election, the county Court of Common Pleas appoints a person to fill the vacancy, according to state law. Vacancies occurring fewer than five days before an election are filled by the county election board.

Bickford’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28.

Three days after the June 2 primary, Bickford admitted to The Morning Call that she darkened dots on ballots so voting machines would accept them. But she denied changing any votes. Bickford, a community organizer who founded the Stevens Park Community Safe Neighborhoods Association and a former Allentown mayoral candidate, suggested that Santiago was the one who violated campaign rules by walking into the polling place multiple times wearing a campaign shirt.