Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin has announced charges have been filed against the elected Judge of Elections in the 3rd Ward of Allentown.

Martin said on Oct. 5 that Everett Edward Bickford, also known as Erika Bickford, and as the Rev. Everett E. Bickford, has been charged under the Pennsylvania Election Code with the following offenses: insertion and alteration of entries in documents, etc., and prying into ballots.

“These offenses are ungraded misdemeanors,” he said.

According to Martin, a complaint was filed earlier Monday with the office of Magisterial District Judge David M. Howells Jr.

Martin said that on June 2, a Primary Election was held in Pennsylvania and Enid Santiago was a candidate on the Democrat ticket for state Representative of the 22nd District.

Her opponent was Peter Schweyer, the incumbent state Representative of that district.

Bickford was the Elected Judge of Elections in the City of Allentown, 3rd Ward.

The voting location of the 3rd Ward is the Lehigh County Government Center, 17 S. 7th St.

According to Martin, the vote totals in the 3rd Ward were: Santiago 95; Schweyer 52, a difference of 43 votes in Santiago’s favor.

Throughout the 22nd District, the vote totals were: Schweyer 2,197; Santiago 2,142, a difference of 55 votes in Schweyer’s favor.

“That vote was certified on June 22,” Martin said. “However, despite the certification of the votes, Santiago notified the County Board of Elections of Lehigh County of alleged irregularities at the voting location of the 3rd Ward, which she contended were violations of the Election Code of Pennsylvania.”

Martin said that on July 29, the Board of Elections, comprised of Phillips M. Armstrong, Jane Ervin and Doris Glaessmann held a public hearing on Santiago’s complaint.

Following that hearing, the board found, “ ... that the actions of Everett Bickford on June 2 in the City of Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, are in fact suspicious and merit a referral to your office.

“That decision was rendered and a transcript of the hearing was supplied with a letter to me from the board dated Aug. 13, 2020,” Martin said. “A similar referral was also made to the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, by letter of the same date.”

According to Martin, the board did not identify the specific actions of Bickford, which were found to be “suspicious.”

“Upon receipt of the transcript of the hearing which ran to 261 pages, I began a review of the matter and read the complete transcript,” Martin said. “Thereafter, I assigned the matter for further investigation to Chief County Detective Michael J. Millan and County Detective Richard Heffelfinger.

“The two detectives interviewed Timothy A. Benyo, chief clerk of registration and elections of the Voter Office of Lehigh County; the candidate Enid Santiago; and, the subject of the investigation, who voluntarily appeared, Everett/Erika Bickford.

“Although Santiago had alleged several different complaints about the conduct of the election generally, the Board of Elections forwarded for my review only the “suspicious” actions of Everett Bickford.”

According to Martin, Santigo stated that while inside the poll at the Government Center, she noticed Bickford had two ballots in her hand, one apparently voted ballot and one blank ballot.

“Ms. Santiago alleges she saw Ms. Bickford writing on a blank ballot,” Martin stated. “Mr. Benyo was present at the time, and according to Ms. Santiago, Mr. Benyo admonished Ms. Bickford telling her that she had to stop and that her actions were not permissible.”

Martin stated while Benyo was at the poll in the Government Center, he stated that he questioned Bickford about pens and removed them from a table.

“While speaking with her, Benyo noticed Bickford had election ballots and a pen in her hand,” Martin said. “Benyo described them as one blank ballot and one voted ballot, and it appeared that Bickford was marking the ballots.

“When questioned, Ms. Bickford said she was “darkening the bubbles” because the machine couldn’t read them.

“Benyo stated he told Bickford to stop, that she can’t do that.

“Benyo asked Bickford where the voter was, and Bickford said the voter had left, or that she didn’t know.”

“In her testimony before the Board of Elections, Bickford testified she assisted approximately 10 voters by darkening the bubbles on their ballots (so that the machine could read the ballot),” Martin said. “She also indicated that she “trimmed” ballots so the machine would accept them.”

Martin said during the interview with the two detectives, Bickford indicated she had been Judge of Elections for approximately 10 to 12 years.

“She said that she altered no ballots,” Martin stated. “However, when asked how many ballots she thought she handled in trimming the jagged edge so they would be accepted by the scanning machine, ‘she indicated 10 or 20, I’m not sure.’”

“With regard to darkening of the bubbles on ballots, Bickford said all she did was darken the dots the voter chose,” Martin said. “She said she did not alter any ballots, i.e. she did not change the voter’s choice.

When asked how many ballots she thought she darkened, Ms. Bickford said ‘not many, about 30, maybe if that.’

She was asked this question several times by the detectives and each time she estimated that she darkened voter’s bubbles “around 30 times.”

The detectives examined all the ballots from the 3rd Ward and found no evidence of tampering on the ballot, i.e. no erasure marks, whiteout, etc., Martin said.

Further there were no indications of a double vote in any of the races listed on the ballot. And, there were no “spoiled” ballots in the 3rd Ward, he added.

“I have concluded that it cannot be determined or proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that Judge of Elections Everett Bickford, also known as Erika Bickford, altered or changed a vote to favor one of the candidates,” Martin said.

“However, based upon the observations of Mr. Benyo and Ms. Santiago and her own testimony before the Board of Elections and her statements to the county detectives, it appears clear beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Bickford “colored in” or “darkened” marks or “bubbles” on the ballots of about 30 voters. Thus, she has been charged accordingly.”

Everett/Erika Bickford voluntarily surrendered to detectives on Oct. 5.

She has been arraigned and released on her own recognizance, Martin said.