Erie, Pennsylvania CNN —
For Republican recruiters who go door-to-door to get votes in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the speech on Erie’s East Lake Road was a godsend to the widespread voter fraud practiced by many in the party. It must have seemed like proof. Dissatisfaction has been ongoing since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Fifty-three voters were registered at the address, which is the site of a Catholic church, but none actually lived there, said Cliff, a conservative operative and founder of the Pennsylvania Chase newspaper. Maroney’s post about X went viral quickly.
But there were voters at the speech — dozens, in fact. 55 must-see nuns from the Benedictine Sisters of Ely.
So-called ballot trackers, who go door-to-door to encourage voters to return their mail-in ballots, can be seen in crowded parking lots and bustling streets where nuns shuffle among modest living quarters and impressive stained glass windows. Somehow I had missed the reception area. chapel window.
“We’re used to being accused of being too active, and we’ve always been very vocal about peace and justice,” Sister Annette Marshall told CNN in an interview Thursday. “But I’ve never heard of any of us being accused of fraud. …or it doesn’t exist.”
The monastery has been in Erie since the 1850s and moved to its current building in 1969. Part of that money came from sisters who formed a real-life musical “Sister Act” group to raise money. Most of the residents have lived there for decades and are deeply involved in the local community.
“We have been in Erie since 1856 and have done good work. These sisters do not deserve to be brought down by false information that we are fake or frauds,” Abbot Stephanie・Sister Schmidt said.
Maloney heads a group encouraging Republicans to vote by mail, and has questioned the security of elections, suggesting widespread fraud in mail-in voting, suggesting that machines change votes and that voters He is part of a larger and often aligned network of conservatives who share unconfirmed stories that he is urging the United States. Be vigilant and document any suspected wrongdoing.
But the evidence supporting their concerns is as tenuous as it was during the 2020 election, and local officials are being bombarded with false and misleading claims like Mr. Maloney’s that spread like wildfire on social media. I’m trying to actively fight against it.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmitt said in a social media post Thursday night that he spoke with the Schmidt sisters to thank them for standing up against election disinformation.
Maloney did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
In two weeks, all eyes will be on Erie County, one of only two true swing states in the nation’s most influential swing states. Barack Obama won the county in 2008 and 2012, but Trump won Erie County in 2016, followed by Biden in Pennsylvania’s northernmost county in 2020. .
Both parties have been campaigning nonstop in this town this election cycle.
“It’s intense,” said Sister Schmidt, 72. But even as she urges the faithful to vote, the Benedictine Sisters are a nonpartisan organization. They do not support political parties or candidates. “Each sister votes with her own conscience,” she said.
Some, like Sister Diane Raab, have already mailed their ballots. Despite their busy schedules, some people are planning to vote on Election Day.
Because Benedictine Sisters don’t sit still.
Many of them were teachers or social workers in their youth, and after retirement they take up full-time jobs in convents. Sister Marshall, now in her 80s, heads the church’s climate change ministry, which is responsible for hundreds of oblates, or monastic community members. Another sister, also in her 80s, took over the hospitality ministry after working at a food bank for 35 years.
Most of the nuns are healthy. Sister Teresa Zorkey, the nuns’ personal historian and archivist, suffered a fall at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport a few weeks ago and was wheeled around in a wheelchair until her leg healed. But all are alive and eligible to meet the nuns. Vote.
According to a text message posted by Maroney to X, the recruiter went inside the convent and was told that no one lived there. But Sister Linda Romy, the congregation’s communications director, said none of the sisters who worked at the front desk remember meeting or speaking with political recruiters.
“The sisters wouldn’t say that to him,” Sister Diane Cook said. “If he went to the reception desk and asked who lives here, he would probably give you a list of all the sisters who live here.”
“We are not a group that just lets them walk all over us like that,” Sister Cook said.
“People can vote for whoever they want, but don’t lie,” she added.
Key battleground states such as North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada are seeing large numbers of mail-in and absentee ballots being cast, with questions ranging from whether mail-in ballot envelopes are properly sealed to whether they are postmarked. There has been a flurry of Republican-led lawsuits on all points. Rightly, it laid the groundwork for a potential challenge to the election.
Conservatives like Maloney recognize the Democratic lead in mail-in voting and see it as an opportunity. If Trump can get 33% of mail-in votes, Maloney told longtime Republican operative Roger Stone on a podcast earlier this month that “the Republican turnout model is off the charts, so Trump could There’s no way we can lose.”
Maloney launched the operation in early 2024, knocking on 500,000 doors in Pennsylvania, with the goal of boosting Republican mail-in voter turnout.
In recent weeks, grassroots Republican efforts in battleground states like Pennsylvania have been amplified by Elon Musk, who has staked his finger and his wallet on President Trump.
America PAC and Turning Point Action, largely funded by the Tesla founder, partnered in Wisconsin earlier this month to deploy hundreds of paid “ballot trackers.”
When Maroney claimed that Erie nuns were involved in voter fraud, America PAC retweeted the post, further amplifying the false statement.
Although most of the Benedictine Sisters are not familiar with social media, they understand its power, especially during an election, and publicly called on Maroney to “account for her blatantly false posts.”
Mr. Maloney acknowledged the controversy regarding X.
“If the 53 people registered at this address are legal voters, I encourage them to participate in their right to vote,” Maloney posted.
But that’s not enough for the sisters.
“All they have to do is say, ‘I’m sorry.’ What we said wasn’t true.” And we were able to say, ‘Okay.’ That would be the end of it. But they never do that,” Sister Cook said.
That said, Maroney is always welcome.
“We want to get him out here and show him the house and get him to understand what the community does and what we’re a part of,” Sister Cook said. “Because obviously Because he doesn’t know.”
