Franklin and Marshall College reportedly receives 'cease and desist' letter from Lancaster County commissioners' office

A dustup over student voter registrations is continuing in Lancaster County. Franklin and Marshall College received what it has called a “cease and desist” letter from the Lancaster County commissioners’ office over the issue.

Last week, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt sent a letter to the Lancaster County Board of Elections alleging that employees at the board had violated state and federal law by denying voter registration and in-person mail ballot requests from college students. Schmidt’s letter claimed that county election officials had been improperly rejecting those requests because the students did not have Pennsylvania driver’s licenses or were registered in other states.

The correspondence came after Lancaster Online reported that the county had not processed roughly 30% of applications submitted by Franklin and Marshall College students. The ACLU also sent a letter to the Lancaster County Board of Elections urging it to register students to vote.

College students have a right to vote in the state where they attend school, and it is not illegal to be registered in two states, The Inquirer has reported. Lancaster County commissioners later argued in a public meeting that Schmidt’s letter was based on false claims, and Chairman Joshua Parsons claimed that both Schmidt and local journalists were baselessly attacking election staff.




https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/lancaster-election-board-franklin-and-marshall-student-voter-registration-20241029.html