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Meet 24-year-old 'election judge' voter monitor in battleground state of Pennsylvania. Here's why she's 'concerned' about voter fraud this election
A Pennsylvania 'election judge' has major concerns about interference in the upcoming November election.
Emily Carr, who has only been old enough to vote in one general election in her lifetime, tells DailyMail.com that electronic voting machines, outdated laws and bad actors could impact the outcome in the battleground state.
Carr, 24, has been an election volunteer for years despite her young age, steadily climbing the ranks from clerk to minority inspector and onto majority inspector before being appointed as a judge of elections in her home county.
Americans are sworn in as election officials with no experience and no background checks - something she says is cause for concern.
She expressed concern over just how chaotic and unorganized election day can be - and the many mistakes that could lead to improperly counted ballots.
Emily Carr, 24, works as a judge of elections in north east Pennsylvania. She detailed exclusively to DailyMail.com some of her top concerns over election security
The chaos - combined with poor staffing levels due to volunteer shortages - have made the job uncomfortable at times, she said, something that she has apparently seen repeatedly since starting as a poll worker years ago.
Though she has never done anything unlawful or suspect in her capacity as an election worker, she says, she revealed to DailyMail.com how the system has potential flaws that could lead to its manipulation.
'I could sign people in and cast the votes all day if I wanted to,' Carr shockingly disclosed about the amount of power some unvetted election officials have in a sit-down interview with DailyMail.com.
Shortages of poll workers, at times, has resulted in ballots having just one official in charge.
While Pennsylvania laws require multiple election supervisors, according to Carr, that does not always happen on election days - resulting in shocking lapses in mandated oversight and opening a pathway for election interference.
On the day of Pennsylvania's 2024 primary elections on April 23, Carr said she was the only worker who showed up.
Carr showed Daily Mail envelopes of votes sealed and held by election officials like her until they may be needed for recounts or verifying ballots
A voter prepares to cast a ballot on an electronic voting machine inside a vote center on Election Day during the Nevada 2024 presidential primary election. Carr expressed concerns over voting official's power over such voting machines and how tallies could be manipulated
A voter drops off a mail-in ballot at a box in Maricopa County, Arizona, during the state's 2022 elections
'I was the only person at that polling place all day. I could have sat there and signed scribbles in the names in the books because no one goes back and looks at those books to double check the signatures.'
'That's our job as we sit there and check you when we're supposed to make sure that the signature you scribble matches the signature printed out on the piece of paper.'
'So if no one's watching me and checking me, and I'm the only person at that polling place, 100 percent I could have opened those polls,' Carr told DailyMail.com. 'I could have messed with ballots.'
'A lot of the insecurity in the election system comes from the people that are working it and they either need to make these actual jobs and pay people to do it, if that's what it takes.'
In addition to scant oversight due to low volunteer turnout impacting election security, mail-in ballots also pose a concern.
'There could be a pile of ballots that got lost and never counted and I could see them being found months later and someone being like, 'well, the election already happened' and whatever and just toss it,' Carr said.
'I wouldn't be surprised if I heard that that was a thing that happened. It's a mess. It's chaotic.'
The disorganization has also meant that voting places can lack necessary supplies and broken voting machines remain inoperable.
And the election headquarters in her precinct often struggles to keep up.
'The scariest thing is just probably how unorganized it all is. Just everything from like, the machines are never working properly. So we're missing supplies. It seems like every election there's issues and everyone's calling to the government building, Carr said.
She told DailyMail.com the problems she sees every election have not been solved.
A worker scans ballots cast during the 2022 U.S. midterm election in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 10, 2022.
Voting locations require multiple officials to operate, Carr said, to ensure that there is oversight of election officials by their peers and poll watchers
'The government building is just kind of like scrambling trying to put band aids on like all these little issues. And after now working so many elections and seeing the same issues happen every single election over and over again ... I'm like you guys have months in between these elections.'
'Why are we not taking the time to like find like real solutions for them?'
While working the 2022 Pennsylvania elections - in which the governor was up for reelection - Carr experienced a paper shortage at her voting place. That same year she also had to keep polls open late.
It was also a year where they had few volunteers staffing her precinct.
'Why are we like just slapping band aids on every election because those cracks that are being covered up with band aids are ultimately where the ability for mistakes to happen and issues happen or people with you know, negative intent. to slip in,' she bemoaned about the voting process.
'I think that's probably most concerning,' she continued. 'It's very disorganized, and it doesn't seem like anyone really cares about how disorganized it is.'
In this year's election, she is concerned that many of the problems she has experienced will remain unsolved, adding an additional burden on election workers.
Pennsylvania was a battleground in 2020 and is again in 2024. Recent polling shows Donald Trump ahead of Joe Biden in the state that the later won in their last matchup
Biden won Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes in 2020
Donald Trump tried to contest Pennsylvania's vote count in 2020 but his attempt was struck down by a federal judge
Donald Trump narrowly lost Pennsylvania in the 2020 election by 80,000 votes.
Afterward the former president challenged the election's results, alleging irregularities in mail-in ballots may have impacted the votes.
A federal judge rejected Trump's bid to challenge the results in November 2020, but the state is believed to be a red-hot competition for the two presidents again.
Current polling analysis compiled by FiveThirtyEight shows the Republican ahead of Biden by 2.4 points.
Though Key Stone state boasts Democratic leadership in the governors office and US Senate, its delegates seem up for grabs.
Pennsylvania may yet again decide the presidential election with a slim margin of votes.
Carr also noted how the state, and many others, have loose restrictions when it comes to who can sign up to be an election official.
In Pennsylvania, for example, a minor aged 17 could sign up to be an election poll worker (with parental permission), despite not being old enough to vote.
This is fairly common and 16-year-olds in other battleground states like Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin can also work as election officials.
'I know that we definitely have like volunteers that are like high school kids and stuff like that can't vote,' Carr said. Though she added she has not seen anyone that young sign up for the upcoming election in her county.
Further, there are not required background checks for poll workers in Pennsylvania, a practice that is also shared by many battleground states.
Biden's fundraising groups are focused on battleground states like Pennsylvania in the 2024 election
'We're the people that are supposed to be keeping an eye on things and no one's really keeping an eye on us.'
'We are just volunteers, no one did a background check on me, no one vetted me to make sure that I was like cleared to be like a judge of elections.'
The 24-year-old told DailyMail.com that though she has not seen any election interference herself while working in Luzerne or Lackawanna Counties, she does believe that the voting system is due for reform.
'I'm just a regular volunteer who is very into politics and thinks that voting is important.'
And, she added, for those wondering: 'You know, we definitely need more volunteers.'