Hopkins first made the allegation anonymously in a
video with James O’Keefe, founder of the conservative activist organization Project Veritas, on Nov. 5. Hopkins provided no evidence to support his allegation beyond repeating a conversation he claimed to have overheard. Erie Postmaster Robert Weisenbach, who was targeted in the allegation, told O’Keefe on a phone call included in the original video that the allegation was “untrue.”
So, initially, the claim amounted to one man’s word against another’s.
But evidence has mounted since then that weighs against Hopkins’ account.
On Nov. 10, the
Erie Times-News reviewed 129 mail-in ballot envelopes that were postmarked Nov. 3, which was Election Day, but arrived at the Erie County Board of Elections after that. Election officials oversaw the review, according to the newspaper. Of those 129 ballots, only two were processed through the Erie facility, the newspaper reported.
“A bulk of the ballots were processed at various [postal service] locations across the state and the country, from places as far west as Tacoma, Washington, and as far south as Florida,” the newspaper reported. Those voters were registered in Erie County, but were out of town for any number of reasons, including for work or college.
“Not only did the
Erie Times-News review find that only two late-arriving ballots processed at the Erie postal facility have a Nov. 3 postmark,” the story said, “but it also found that nine late ballots processed in Erie were postmarked Nov. 4 or later.”
