Article by Margot Cleveland in The Federalist
Exclusive Whistleblower Video: Pennsylvania Election Workers Discuss Hiding ‘Derogatory’ Records
A new whistleblower video obtained by The Federalist shows Delaware County, Pennsylvania election workers discussing ways to hide from the public “derogatory” information about the management and administration of the November 2020 election. The video is further evidence of fraud undertaken to conceal the widespread violations of Pennsylvania election law that occurred during last year’s presidential election, according to a source familiar with the recording.
The video, surreptitiously recorded by whistleblower Regina Miller, is one of many Miller took while working as a contract employee for the county. Miller began secretly recording the behind-the-scenes conduct after witnessing concerning behavior by several election officials, a person with knowledge of a lawsuit filed last month against county election officials, based in part on the recordings, told The Federalist.
In that lawsuit, Delaware County residents Ruth Moton, Leah Hoopes, and Gregory Stenstrom, as well as the Friends of Ruth Moton campaign, alleged former Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, Delaware County, the Delaware County Board of Elections, and more than a dozen individual election officials destroyed election records and conspired to do so, to hide violations of election law.
Among the election law violations, according to the lawsuit, was the failure of the defendants to reconcile the votes after the close of the polls, as required by Pennsylvania’s election code. However, unlike the other lawsuits that followed the November 2020 election and alleged claims under the U.S. Constitution or state election codes, the petition in Moton v. Boockvar focuses instead on the defendants’ alleged fraud to cover up those purported violations.
In fact, four of the five counts set forth in the court filing were premised on Pennsylvania’s civil law of fraud and misrepresentation. The fraud and misrepresentation, according to the petition, involved the defendants’ alleged destruction of evidence and their purported representation of compliance with a May 21, 2021 Right to Know Request filed with Delaware County.
That request, according to sources with knowledge of the lawsuit, sought documentation from the county to confirm the November 2020 election results that were certified. According to the Moton lawsuit, the Right to Know request specifically requested the “final certified return sheets from the November 3, 2020 general election” for all Delaware County precints, along with the attached machine tapes from the voting machines. Significantly, as we will see, the request also asked for “any additional notes written on the back of the return sheet, as well as any attached notes that are related to each return sheet.”
The latest video obtained by The Federalist appears filmed soon after the Right to Know request, displaying a June 3, 2021 date. The recording shows two men identified by a source close to the matter as Delaware County election official James Ziegelhoffer and Delaware County lawyer Tom Gallagher.
The video captures the duo flipping through a box marked November 2020 “return sheets,” with the individual identified to The Federalist as Gallagher saying: “When we Xerox these return sheets there are notes on these return sheets and we are going to have to cover them over with paper. Somebody wrote on there ‘this is an outrageous example.”
The man identified by sources as Ziegelhoffer, whom county records show held the position of “Judge of Election” for the Western Precinct in the Media Borough, is heard on the recording saying, “So, like, any derogatory or whatever.”
“Right,” the tape records the apparently more senior election official responding, then adding that “most of the stuff is written on the back so we’re alright.”
The two then finger through the return sheets, appearing to discuss the markings, with Gallagher heard saying, “Okay that’s fine. But you know what I’m saying, ‘refused to come in,’” an apparent reference to a note he wanted covered when copies were made in response to the Right to Know request.
This latter exchange seems to confirm that Delaware County’s concern was only the derogatory handwritten notes and that in providing the responsive documents to the Right to Know request the officials left unobstructed any benign writing when making the copies.
Videos previously obtained by The Federalist provide further evidence of this apparently troubling conduct, as well as some hints to the type of “derogatory” information related to the management and administration of the November 2020 election the plaintiffs allege Delaware County officials attempted to hide.
In one of those earlier videos, the whistleblower filmed a conversation she had with the individual identified to The Federalist as Ziegelhoffer, according to a source with knowledge of the lawsuit. Ziegelhoffer, also known as Ziggy, is the man shown on this tape saying, “What we have here . . . is evidence. Right? Let them figure that out.”
The whistleblower responds: “Yes, but what I don’t understand and this makes—honestly this makes me nervous. Is why tapes were being thrown away?”
After Ziggy begins to deny the claim, “No, no tapes were,” Miller cuts him off: “No, you guys have been throwing away tapes… so what tapes are you throwing away? Like why?” After another short exchange in which Miller reminds him that “you have to save it for 22 months,” a reference to federal retention mandates, Ziegelhoffer acknowledges, “Yes, there are tapes that are being tossed,” but he then justifies their disposal by stressing, “They are of no audit value.”
That video then ends with a shot of various paperwork related to the November 2020 election, including torn documents shown in a large garbage can. A close-up of some of the paperwork captures some of the notes attached to, or written on, the election sheets, seen below:
The latest video appears filmed in the same room as another video obtained last month by The Federalist. That video depicts the man identified by sources as Gallager tearing up tapes from the voting machines and tossing them in a garbage can.
“Tom, why do you have to rip it up? Makes you feel better?” the whistleblower is heard saying.
Gallager replies, “At this point, I don’t want anybody to pick it up, and thinking we threw stuff away.”
“We’re gonna have a little campfire going,” Ziggy adds.
Attempts to contact Ziegelhoffer and Gallager proved unsuccessful and Adrienne Marofsky, the public relations director for Delaware County, told The Federalist, “This matter is pending litigation and therefore the County is not responding to press questions.” However, Marofsky added that “the County is confident that the elections in 2020 and 2021 were conducted fairly and fully complied with state and federal laws.”
But with the video evidence that continues to emerge, that pronouncement seems in doubt: After all, if there were no violations of state or federal law, why seek to hide “derogatory” evidence or destroy the very tapes that could prove compliance with the law?
