Five Petition Circulators Say They Didn’t Forge Signatures On Election Documents

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This LevittownNow.com story has been supported in part by funding from In The Know Club members. 

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Five Republicans who circulated former candidate Dasha Pruett’s nominating petitions have come forward affirming they did not place forged signatures on them.

Several of the circulators who volunteered for Pruett’s campaign noticed what appeared to be forged signatures on forms submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Because their names are attached to the documents, four have signed affidavits and plan to bring their concerns to law enforcement in the coming days, attorney Dean Malik, who ran for Congress as a Republican in past years, told LevittownNow.com.

Pruett, a Delaware County resident who was running for the First Congressional District that covers Bucks County and part of Montgomery County, submitted more than 100 pages with signatures to the Pennsylvania Department of State by the March 15 deadline, as required by law. Signatures, names, addresses, and dates are required from members of the candidate’s party to qualify for a place on the ballot.

It is unlawful to forge signatures on petition documents.

A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story recently reported forged signatures can be investigated by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and local district attorney offices.

As of Thursday, there were no statements by law enforcement that they were investigating the forged signatures, and several circulators said they had not been contacted by law enforcement.

Some of the circulators have been in contact with attorneys, according to statements they issued.

This news organization knocked on the doors of more than two dozens addresses listed on the petitions in Falls and Lower Makefield townships. Of those who answered, all but one person said their signature submitted on petitions was not written by them.

Several people who had their signatures forged were upset and confused by the situation.

“I have signed many petitions in the past because I believe in the process, but I was stunned to see it wasn’t my signature. That’s the most amazing thing,” said Robin Holmes, a Lower Makefield Township resident who is registered as a Republican.

The affidavits and statements provided by several of the circulators from across the First Congressional District show the scope of the concern over forged signatures among Pruett’s former campaign volunteers.

Circulators who signed affidavits and provided statements said signatures they did not collect appeared on forms after they turned them over to Pruett’s campaign. The campaign then submitted the petitions to the state.

One circulator said the signatures that she did not collect but appeared on her forms submitted to state by the campaign were dated the day of a bad snowstorm and another while she was at a trade show in Atlantic City. A second circulator said 11 signatures allegedly from Sellersville in Upper Bucks County on his form were dated for the day he was at an event in Bensalem Township.

Some of the circulators said they handed their petitions, which they say later had names and signatures added to them, directly to Pruett and her husband.

“I have spent countless hours of my own time collecting legitimate signatures for Dasha Pruett for Congress. It appears as though these petitions were subsequently altered with false signatures. The signatures were not my doing and they suspiciously all have the same handwriting. It appears as though others are experiencing the same situation that I am with petitions they turned in,” said Liz Diehl, a Republican from Upper Bucks County.

“An additional petition was filed that appears to contain my information and signature as the circulator. This petition contains 11 signatures, all on page 1. The signatures are all from voters identified as residing in Sellersville in Upper Bucks County. I have never collected signatures in Sellersville,” said Rob Boysen, a Bensalem Township Republican who circulated petitions for Pruett.

“There are approximately one dozen volunteers who I know of whose petitions allegedly contain forged signatures. None of us placed those forgeries on the petitions prior to turning them in to the campaign,” Central Bucks County Republican Committeewoman Audrey Strein said in her statement.

Strein emailed Pruett on March 17 about concerns over forged signatures, but as of Friday, has not heard back from Pruett or her husband Rich, both of whom she stated she was in “daily” contact with prior to her email about signatures.

Pruett told LevittownNow.com last week that this news organization’s findings were “troubling” and no circulators had reached out to her about concerns. She said she was not behind the scheme.

“There were a lot of people who were getting signatures,” Pruett said. “We trusted the people. Probably shame on me. We should have done better vetting.”

Pruett also stated there is no easy system to check for forgeries and there can be sabotage in some campaigns.

Several of the circulators said Pruett’s comments to LevittownNow.com on the forged signatures upset them.

“I am absolutely appalled by what appears to be blatant election fraud. I am also shocked and disappointed that when confronted with the clear forgeries, after dropping out of the race, Dasha Pruett attempted to blame her volunteers, suggesting she should have “vetted” them better,” said Chuck Coxhead, a GOP Judge of Elections from New Britain Township.

“I will not be accused of something I did not do, and I will not be slandered on social media for someone else’s misdeeds. I am guilty of nothing other than volunteering my time and efforts for the wrong candidate. I will cooperate fully with any investigation,” said Frank Masciotro Sr., a Republican from Central Bucks County who circulated petitions for Pruett.

Pruett has shared concerns that widespread fraud impacted the 2020 election that then-President Donald Trump lost. She has called on social media for “election integrity.”

Pruett withdrew from the race days after submitting petitions, but she has said her exit was not related to concerns over signatures. The former candidate said she left the race because she would have a steep hill to climb to beat incumbent Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick in the primary due to the fact she lives outside of the First Congressional District. In addition, she said her Russian heritage would cause a problem for her because of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to state court records, a Bucks County Republican filed a legal challenge to Pruett’s petitions once they were submitted to the state, but it was quickly ended due to her withdraw from the race.

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LevittownNow.com has publish the full statements provided by circulators. Their statements and affidavit statements are printed below in full.

Affidavit statement from Frank Masciotro Sr.:

I have been involved in Bucks County politics at the grass roots level for over a decade. Through my involvement, I have gotten to know a significant number of candidates over the years and I have circulated nominating petitions for many candidates. I am very familiar with the legal requirements for obtaining valid signatures and I have always complied with those requirements. I have never forged a voter’s signature on a petition, and I have never had any signatures that I obtained for candidates over the years questioned as forgeries. 

This year, I agreed to assist Dasha Pruett by circulating nominating petitions and collecting signatures for her to get on the congressional primary ballot for PA-01. 

After obtaining valid signatures, close to the state deadline for filing, on March 13^th, 2022, I met with Dasha and Rich Pruett, her husband and campaign coordinator, at a petition collection event at Johnny Apples on Buck Road in Southampton around 5:30pm to turn in the signatures I had gathered for her over the previous two weeks.  I handed Dasha my petitions, most of which had only a handful of signatures on them, with a significant number of blank spaces. Prior to turning in the petitions I signed and verified them as required by law. There were several other circulators there, and they were turning in their petitions too.  

Later that week, I was informed that many of Dasha’s petitions had obvious forgeries on them, and some of the petitions in question had my name as the circulator.  I further learned that there are multiple people who collected signatures for Dasha and turned in petitions to her who have the same issue.  

In reviewing the filed copies of the petitions I turned in, available on the Pennsylvania election web-site, it is quite clear that many additionally signatures were added to the petitions in the blank spaces.  These signatures and related biographical information appear to be grouped into two or three separate identical sets of handwriting. These signatures were not there when I turned my petitions in. Someone clearly added names after the fact, as most of the blank spaces were now filled with signatures made in the same hand.  

Having been involved in grass roots politics for many years, I have attended multiple volunteer training sessions. In none of the petition training events, was it ever mentioned that we should cross out empty spaces to prevent fraud. To the contrary, the fact that I or any person would volunteer our time and effort for a candidate means that we implicitly trust that candidates character and integrity.

I have seen reports in the press that when confronted about these forgeries, Dasha essentially blamed her volunteers, claiming she should have “vetted” them better. By doing this she is falsely implicating those of us who worked for her and who believed in her of committing crimes. This is reprehensible.

I did not wish to make a public comment about this until I had given the matter a great deal of thought and talked it over with others in the same situation.

I will not be accused of something I did not do, and I will not be slandered on social media for someone else’s misdeeds.  I am guilty of nothing other than volunteering my time and efforts for the wrong candidate. I will cooperate fully with any investigation. 

Statement by Liz Diehl:

I hereby put everyone seeking to defame my character regarding fake signatures on petitions on notice. I have spent countless hours of my own time collecting legitimate signatures for Dasha Pruett for Congress. It appears as though these petitions were subsequently altered with false signatures. The signatures were not my doing and they suspiciously all have the same handwriting. It appears as though others are experiencing the same situation that I am with petitions they turned in. Therefore I will be turning over all the names of people accusing me of tampering with petitions over to my attorney for possible future liable lawsuits. While Dasha and her husband Richard are trying to blame those of us that gave up their time to help them, why aren’t people demanding handwriting samples from the two of them?

Affidavit statement from Audrey Strein:

My name is Audrey Strein.  As a Republican committee woman I have collected signatures for petitions for various political candidates for a decade and half.  In all that span, I have never forged any voter’s signature and I have never encountered any controversy concerning the legitimacy of even one signature. 

This year I collected signatures for Dasha Pruett for her run for Congress in PA-01.  

Pennsylvania nominating petitions are two-sided sheets with 15 signature lines on each page. The second page at the bottom is where the circulator signs and affirms the legitimacy of the collected information. After collecting the signatures, prior to the filing deadline, volunteers will typically turn in their petitions to the campaign, which will then have the documents filed in Harrisburg. 

During the petition period, I, along with other volunteers, will often use multiple petition pages, and not always fill each page with signatures completely from front to back. The petitions are still completely valid as long as signed on the second page by the circulator. There is no legal requirement to strike out blank spaces on petitions, and in the past I have not done so. Accordingly, with Dasha Pruett’s campaign, some of the petitions I turned in contained blank lines with less than the total of 30 signatures collected.  Following standard accepted procedure, I signed all of my petitions and handed them directly over to Dasha and Rich Pruett, her husband and campaign coordinator. I understand that everyone who collected signatures for her did the same.

On March 17, 2022, I was informed by people familiar with the campaign that a number of Dasha’s petitions (from 12 different circulators) appeared to contain signatures that were fraudulently added to blank lines after the circulators had turned the petitions in to the campaign.  I sent an immediate email to the Pruetts demanding a response to these concerns.  To this day, neither Dasha nor Rich Pruett have responded via email, text, call, or hard copy letter.  This despite regular daily telephonic contact with them leading up to March 17, 2022.   Dead silence from them since my email on the 17^th.  No explanations, no inquiries and significantly, no outrage. 

Their silence is accompanied by other anomalies.  Not all the petition gatherers, who petitions contain forgeries were familiar with each other.  Many questionable signatures were “signed” and dated on March 12 –during a blizzard.  Signatures showed up on one of my petitions dated 4 March 2022.  I was at a trade show on March 4^th in Atlantic City, Hard Rock Casino, for the last day of the Northeast Roofing Contractors Convention.  

There are approximately one dozen volunteers who I know of whose petitions allegedly contain forged signatures. None of us placed those forgeries on the petitions prior to turning them in to the campaign. 

Many of us who supported Dasha are shocked and offended by what she has offered as an explanation to the press. She clearly stated that her only area of blame was failing to “vet” her volunteers, thereby implying that those of us who worked for her took matters into our own hands and forged multiple signatures. This is simply not true and any deeper investigation will reveal that. What is particularly offensive to us is the fact that she would recklessly and falsely implicate her own supporters in the commission of crimes. 

I do not know how the forgeries came to be placed on my petitions or on the petitions of the other volunteers, but I can state with certainty that they were placed there after I had signed and surrendered my petitions to Dasha or Rich Pruett personally.

Affidavit statement from Rob Boysen:

I have been involved grass roots political activism since 2008. I have worked on numerous political campaigns over the years and I have circulated nominating petitions for a multitude of candidates. I am very familiar with the requirements for obtaining valid signatures and I have always complied with them. 

This year I circulated a nominating petition for candidate Dasha Pruett who was running for congress in Pennsylvania’s 1^st Congressional District.

On March 1, 2022 I was attending a veterans’ organization meeting in Bensalem, Bucks County. At the meeting I obtained three signatures, and I added mine on line 4. Then on March 6, 2022 I obtained the signatures of 11 different people, all of who reside on Rose Avenue in the Penn Valley Terrace in Trevose. On March 11, I obtained my wife’s signature. Subsequently I signed the “Statement of Circulator” at the bottom of page 2 and turned the document in to the campaign by handing it directly to Dasha Pruett at a collection event. 

I have since learned an additional petition was filed that appears to contain my information and signature as the circulator. This petition contains 11 signatures, all on page 1. The signatures are all from voters identified as residing in Sellersville in Upper Bucks County. I have never collected signatures in Sellersville. The first two signatures on this petition are dated March 1, 2022, the same date when I was at the American Legion Meeting in Bensalem, when I personally signed and dated my own petition on line 4.  I did not collect any of the signatures on this petition. 

Affidavit statement from Chuck Coxhead:

I have been involved in local politics in Bucks County for over twelve years. I have collected signatures for many candidates over the years and I am extremely familiar in the requirements for circulating nominating petitions and obtaining valid voter signatures. I am the President of my local Republican Party club in the New Britain-Chalfont area, and I am a Judge of Elections. In my many volunteer roles, as a long-time poll worker and local party volunteer, I have dedicated a great deal of my personal time and effort to contribute to our participatory democracy. 

This year at an event in the New Britain Township area on March 10, 2022, I circulated a petition to collect signatures for Dasha Pruett for the 2022 primary ballot for PA-01. The turnout at the event was relatively light and I obtained only four signatures. These signatures are placed in lines 1-5, with line 3 being crossed out. There is no requirement to line out blank spaces on petitions under Pennsylvania law, and I did not do so. The following day, March 11, 2022, I signed the petition at the designated location on the back page, had it notarized, and sent it via overnight mail to the Dasha Pruett campaign.

Shortly after state deadline for filing petitions had passed, it was brought to my attention that a significant number of Dasha’s petitions had what appeared to be obvious forgeries. In reviewing my petition on the Pennsylvania election website, I can clearly see that every single blank space that existed on the document when I turned it in had since been completely filled in. A total of twenty-five signatures, with corresponding biographical information, had been added that I did not collect.

I am absolutely appalled by what appears to be blatant election fraud. I am also shocked and disappointed that when confronted with the clear forgeries, after dropping out of the race, Dasha Pruett attempted to blame her volunteers, suggesting she should have “vetted” them better. 

As a long-time servant to New Britain Township and the wider community, I have absolutely dedicated my avocational pursuits to a fair and free election process with the highest level of integrity. I have utter disdain for violations of election law. As a sitting Judge of Elections, I am dedicated to ensuring that each and every person has the unfettered right and ability to cast their vote without interference by political ideologies. I proudly exercise my civic duty in this elected role to ensure that every single person shall be able to exercise their legal right to vote. I will cooperate fully with any investigation.

Affidavit statement from Don Beishl Jr.:

I am the host of a weekly political talk radio show called “The Conservative Voice.” The show airs every Friday for one hour starting at noon on WWDB 860 AM. The show broadcasts live from the station’s studios on City Line Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Dasha and Richard Pruett have been guests on the show multiple times. 

Prior to deciding to run for congress in PA-01, Dasha and Richard sought my advice. I told them I felt it would be a waste of time because it is hard enough to run against an incumbent, and it would be even more difficult since they did not even live in the congressional district – they live in Upper Darby, Delaware County. They obviously rejected this advice and chose to run.

On March 11, 2022, Dasha arrived at the studio a few minutes before noon to be a guest on that day’s show.  She was accompanied by Richard. The deadline for filing nominating petitions for the primary election was four days away. I asked them how the petition drive was going. Dasha responded by telling me that she did not think they’d make the ballot because they were short on signatures. However, before Dasha could finish her thought, Rich interrupted and stated they had plenty of people out with petitions and he was certain they’d make the ballot.

Shortly after the petitions were filed, I discovered that Dasha dropped out of the race. I spoke with both of them on the phone. They explained that the decision to withdraw was because they came to the conclusion that Dasha could not win because she did not reside in the district, and because they felt that Dasha would somehow be at a disadvantage because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and her Russian heritage. 

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