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PA woman wasn’t arrested for telling voters to stay in line

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“Do not get out of line! Do not get out of line!” a woman in a video shouts as two police officers whisk her away.

Off camera, the person filming the incident can be heard saying, “Wow, wow, wow. That’s crazy. You locked her up? That is insane, man.” 

“She is influencing people,” one observer said to the camera. But the person filming disagreed: “She is not influencing people.”

This video was shared in social media posts, with people claiming the woman was arrested Oct. 28 for telling people to stay in line to exercise their right to vote.

“A supporter of President Trump’s was arrested today for encouraging people to stay in the early voting line and cast their ballots freely in Pennsylvania,” read the text in an Oct. 29 X post.

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Is that all that happened?

The woman in the video is Vallerie or “Val” Biancaniello, a Republican elector for Pennsylvania. In another video of the incident, Biancaniello can be heard saying, “I am a delegate for Donald Trump, by the way!” 

Biancaniello posted Oct. 28 on X, “They arrested me and I didn’t break any laws. I encouraged people to stay in line and vote because the Democrats were discouraging voters from in person voting today in Delaware County.” Democrats have won Delaware County, a county that surrounds Philadelphia, since 1992.

She said an election worker told voters to go to Chester Heights office, around 6 miles away, where the line is shorter. But when people went there, she said, they were told that the office had run out of mail-in ballot applications.

Former President Donald Trump and Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley shared similar claims, arguing that people’s votes were being suppressed. 

But these posts were misleading. 

(Screenshot from X)

An Oct. 30 statement by county spokesperson Ryan Herlinger said the incident occurred at the voter service center at the Government Center Building in Media, Pennsylvania. According to the statement, Biancaniello was “disruptive and belligerent toward some Delaware County residents waiting for mail-in ballot applications and other election-related services.”

The county said Biancaniello wasn’t in line for any service from the elections department, but “spent nearly two hours in the lobby area and approached various individuals,” prompting some people in line to complain to the Delaware County Park Police, which provides security for that building. 

A woman at the scene told WCAU-TV that Biancaniello was telling people about a two-hour wait and that they had to stay in line. She said some voters told police Biancaniello was “interfering with the election.” PolitiFact found no more footage of the events before Biancaniello’s handcuffing.

Park Police officers advised Biancaniello on appropriate behavior and allowed her to stay in the lobby, the county said. But after more complaints, she was asked to leave the building. Biancaniello refused. 

The county said Biancaniello was not arrested, but “briefly detained and issued a citation for disorderly conduct.” Park Police didn’t respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment; Herlinger said Park Police confirmed she was not arrested. In a statement to CNN, the Delaware County district attorney’s office said this was “a summary offense similar to a traffic ticket.”

The district attorney’s office is conducting a criminal investigation into the incident. However, the Delaware County Daily Times reported that First Assistant District Attorney Tanner Rouse said the case was “low priority” because no criminal charges were being filed.

In the same Oct. 30 county statement, Delaware County Council Chair Monica Taylor said the county takes voting rights “very seriously.” 

“Voters have a right to participate in our democracy fully and we applaud our Park Police for calming the disturbance and allowing election services to be provided without disruption,” she said.

Registered Pennsylvania voters can choose on-demand mail ballot voting, in which they can apply for a mail ballot in person at a county elections office, receive one, fill it out and submit it in one visit. But state law does not require counties to follow this.

According to the Delaware County Daily Times, James Allen, election operations director, said machines print ballots on demand because voter service centers do not know who will come in to request mail ballots. The deadline to request a mail or absentee ballot in Delaware County passed at 5 p.m. Oct. 29.

Allen said no location “ran out of ballots” or couldn’t process applications, the Delaware County Daily Times reported, contrary to Biancaniello’s claim about the Chester Heights location turning away voters. 

In the county’s Oct. 30 statement, Allen said voters can direct election questions to election staff members in voter service centers.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this story.

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