An investigation into Lehigh County voting showed many incidents where people dropped multiple ballots into drop boxes during the 2021 November election, the county district attorney said Monday in a news release.

According to election law, a person is only allowed to drop his or her ballot and drop off anyone else’s.

The question arose on Jan. 20, when Joe Vichot, cpublican Committee, submitted correspondence to Deputy County Solicitor, Sarah Murray, regarding alleged multiple ballots deposited at drop-boxes in November.

The Election Board of Lehigh County through Deputy Solicitor Murray referred the matter to the District Attorney for investigation on Feb. 1.

District Attorney Jim Martin referred the matter to Chief County Detective Michael J. Millan, who assigned County Detectives Richard G. Heffelfinger, Steven C. Furlong and Robert V. Egan to the investigation.

“Based upon the investigation, I have found that there were likely hundreds of instances where people deposited more than one ballot into drop-boxes established for receipt of ballots between Oct. 18 and election day, Nov. 2, 2021,” Martin said.

He said drop boxes were in place 7,196 ballots were deposited and counted. Based upon the review by the detectives, at least 288 people deposited more than one ballot in the various drop-boxes, all of which were under video surveillance. “This is a clear violation of the provisions of the Election Code, which require that each voter deposit/deliver only their own ballot.”

Martin said, “Based upon the sampling, it is clear that many more than just those observed deposited more than one ballot. However, based upon the observation of the detectives, there was only one instance where it appears that more than two ballots were deposited; and then, either five or six. That person cannot be identified.”

He added that the vast majority of others captured on video depositing their ballots in drop-boxes also cannot be identified.

More than 14,800 ballots were delivered through the U.S. mail.

“I have concluded that there will be no prosecution brought as a result of this investigation because to prosecute those few whose identity can be proven would be unfair and unjust given the much larger numbers who cannot be identified and who also deposited multiple ballots,” Martin said.

“However, I have concluded that the complaint of the Lehigh County Republican Committee is well-founded, and that there are hundreds of instances where voters violated the Election Code by submitting more than their own ballot,” Martin said.

He noted that the only way to cure this violation would be to have ballots delivered in person to an election official.