Criminal charges filed after Dauphin County catches falsified applications to vote by mail

This story was originally published by WITF.

Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo filed charges Friday afternoon against a person for allegedly submitting 10 falsified mail-in ballot applications to the county’s elections office.

Kelly Heather Richardson, 31, from Idaho Falls, Idaho, is charged with 10 counts of identity theft, a felony.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in state court, a worker for Mobilize the Message submitted the forms to Dauphin County elections Sept. 25. Mobilize the Message is a Florida-based LLC that provides door-knocking and signature collection for ideologically driven field programs, according to legal filings and their website. Though incorporated in Florida, the group’s offices are in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Texas.

Richardson was a part-time contractor for Mobilize the Message, according to the group’s attorney, Anthony Sabatini. The group “worked closely with Dauphin County investigators,” he added.

“MTM terminated the rogue contractor,” Sabatini said in an emailed statement. “MTM does not incentivize contractors based on mail-in ballot application results.”

Dauphin County’s election director Chris Spackman said when the forms were submitted, he immediately noticed the suspicious signatures and sent them over to the district attorney’s office for investigation. Spackman rejected the applications and no actual ballots were distributed as a result.

Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Detective John O’Connor then contacted the 10 residents whose names were on the forms, according to the criminal complaint. They are each registered voters in the county.

“Of the ten forged mail in ballet [sic] requests, eight were individuals over 60 years of age,” according to the affidavit.

Each voter reviewed the application made in their name and confirmed that neither the signature nor the social security number was accurate. The applications did get the names and addresses correct, but that information is public.

O’Connor interviewed the worker who dropped the forms off. He said he works for Mobilize the Message. Per the criminal complaint, that worker said Richardson was responsible for filling out the forms, which she then turned over to him to turn into the county.

On Oct. 8, O’Connor spoke to Richardson by phone, per the affidavit.

“In the phone conversation, the defendant admitted to forging the signatures of the ten mail in ballet [sic] requests Clint Seal turned into the Dauphin County Elections office in September 2026,” according to the affidavit.

Richardson is also charged with one misdemeanor for breaking election rules, and 10 more counts for misdemeanor forgery.

Dauphin County issued a warrant for arrest for Richardson on Oct. 30, as she is no longer in the county’s jurisdiction.

The allegedly fraudulent forms first came to light when U.S. Rep. Scott Perry inaccurately described the county as receiving fraudulent ballots during a televised debate Oct. 14. Perry is a Republican representing Dauphin County and much of York and Cumberland counties. He is running for reelection against Democratic candidate Janelle Stelson.

Who backs Mobilize the Message?

Mobilize the Message is funded by and connected to a national network of conservative organizations. There is no indication in the criminal filings or in statements from public officials that the alleged falsification of the mail in ballot applications was politically motivated.

In a similar case from 2024, where fraudulent registration forms were submitted to four counties, charging documents made it clear that the crimes were motivated by financial gain. In that case, canvassers collecting the forms stood to make more money the more forms they collected. In Pennsylvania, it is illegal to incentivize registration collections in that way.

According to Federal Election Commission data, Mobilize the Message received $500,000 from the Protect Freedom Political Action Committee, and has received more than $530,000 in several payments from the Citizens Alliance Political Action Committee within the last year. Both PACs work to elect Republicans.

Mobilize the Message is run by Cliff Maloney and Justin Greiss, according to Florida business entity records and their public profiles. Maloney describes himself as a “political strategist, commentator, and expert in grassroots campaigning.” In 2024, Maloney inaccurately accused the Benedictine Sisters of Erie of voter fraud in a post on X that went viral, leading the nuns to receive national attention when they called out the falsehood.

Maloney is also the CEO of Citizens Alliance, which “exits to elect liberty-minded, America First candidates” and partners with Turning Point Action, per the website.  He also founded PA Chase, dedicated to “building the RED WALL so that Democrats cannot win a national election in our lifetime,” per that website.

Greiss was political director for Kentucky Republican Rand Paul’s Senate reelection bid in 2016. He then worked for Young Americans for Liberty before starting with Mobilize the Message in 2017, per his LinkedIn.