Woman accused of trying to fraudulently register 4 people to vote in election

A Delaware County woman is accused of trying to fraudulently register four people – including her dead father and a person who died inside her home -- to vote in the 2024 presidential election.  

Jennifer Hill, 38, of Collingdale, Pennsylvania, was arrested on Thursday, Dec. 19, and charged with forgery, tampering with public record/information, applying for registration knowing individual is not entitled to registration, and other related offenses.

Investigators said Hill worked for the New Pennsylvania Project, a voting rights organization focused on voter registration, civic education and mobilization throughout the state. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Hill was a canvasser for the organization and worked on registering people to vote.

Through an app – provided by the Pennsylvania Department of State – Hill tried to register 310 people to vote between April 2024 and September 2024, according to investigators. Stollsteimer said 181 of those people were successfully registered while 129 were not successfully registered.

Stollsteimer said the state requires information – including a driver’s license and the last four digits of a social security number – during the registration process. Names that the state can’t verify are sent to the election office and then contacted through a Help America Vote Act (HAVA) letter which requests more information for verification.

Investigators noticed multiple names sent by Hill through the app that were variations of the same name with different addresses and emails, according to Stollsteimer. This led to an investigation in which officials determined Hill tried to fraudulently register at least four people, including her dead father, her grandmother, an unidentified person and a person who died in her home in 2011.

“She knows that because she was the person who called the police to come when he died in her house,” Stollsteimer said.  

Stollsteimer said Hill successfully registered one of the four through the state system.

“She did register a fraudulent person and my understanding is this is sort of a gap in the system where by putting in no date of birth and no social security number, it goes through and became a verified voter registration,” Stollsteimer said. “She did not take any further step. That fictitious person did not vote in the 2024 election. But that shows you how we still have gaps in our system that we need to have the legislature address.”

Hill was taken into custody and arraigned on Thursday, Dec. 19. She is being held in the Delaware County Prison after failing to post bail. Online court records don’t list legal representation who could speak on her behalf.

While Hill is in custody, Stollsteimer said the investigation is not over and they’re still looking into the names she tried to register.

“We don’t know from the other 129 that were non-verifiable, how many of those were made up names,” Stollsteimer said. “The Pennsylvania Department of State, I believe, needs to take a look at all of the ones that were submitted by this individual and frankly, I think they should look at all of the ones that were submitted by this organization. It could be just one bad canvasser, but they should take a look and make sure that all of those people are legitimate registrations.”

Stollsteimer also said the case highlights “gaps in our system” that the Pennsylvania legislature should address.

“I think the Department of State in Harrisburg needs to take a look at every single registration that she submitted to make sure that they are not fraudulent,” Stollsteimer said. “And I think our legislature needs to look at the law again and see if there are gaps that need to be filled.”

NBC10 reached out to the New Pennsylvania Project for comment. Kadia Kenner, CEO of the New Pennsylvania Project, confirmed Hill was a former staffer with the group. She wrote the following statement in response to the allegations.

To be clear, NPPEF DOES NOT provide financial incentives or bonuses for voter registration application collection. Our employees have no quota to meet, and hourly wages paid to part-time canvassing employees remain the same no matter the number of voter registration applications collected.

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Department of State informed the New PA Project Education Fund (NPPEF) about potential issues regarding attempted voter registration by one of our former canvassers working in Delaware County.

Immediately upon being notified of the potential issues, we suspended the staff member pending investigation. An internal investigation was launched, and the organization paused our voter registration programs in several regions pending the outcome of our investigation.

Today’s announcement is proof that the multiple layers of internal and external quality control operate with integrity at both the New PA Project Education Fund, the Department of State, and local law enforcement. Due to the hard work of many individuals to prevent disruptive actions by bad actors, our voting rolls and elections are secure, and no fraudulent ballots were cast.

In addition to Hill, Stollsteimer also announced election fraud charges against Philip Moss, an 84-year-old man accused of voting in person in Florida while also completing a mail-in ballot to vote in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

“One of the principles in our democracy is one person, one vote,” Stollsteimer said. “Mr. Moss seemed to think he was entitled to two.”

Stollsteimer said Moss will be taken to Delaware County where he’ll face misdemeanor charges.