A group of county residents used the public comment session during Wednesday's county commissioners meeting to advocate for a forensic audit of the 2020 election, while another group encouraged the commissioners to eschew the idea.

The hour-long comment session at times became contentious, as both sides remained passionate on their stances.

Wil White, county solicitor, allowed 60 individuals into the meeting room at a time. Those leaving the meeting were replaced by those waiting in the hallway outside.

The group favoring the audit repeatedly contended that the voting machines used by the county can be hacked, and offered multiple other issues and numbers they say point toward fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Aaron Sheasley, the county elections director, has stated repeatedly that the machines are not connected to the internet and cannot be hacked.

“An election system that is electronic can be hacked,” said Theresa Walko of Connoquenessing.

She was also concerned with the mail-in ballots received by the county, which she said were counted after election day.

“That's illegal,” Walko said.

Center Township resident Michael Chopp, who spoke on the election fraud issue at last month's commissioners meeting, said the Election Systems & Software voting machines purchased by the county are “corrupted.”

“They were approved only for one reason: to cheat,” Chopp said.

He said 2,000 county residents have signed a petition to have the county join Audit the Vote PA, a statewide group that advocates for counties to perform forensic audits of the 2020 election.

“We absolutely insist on the truth,” Chopp said.

Others stated that while they trust the poll workers and praised the commissioners for forming an election review commission to study the November election, they believe that outside sources and the ballots' chain of custody are the causes of fraud.

But Catherine Lalonde, chairwoman of the county Democratic Committee, read a statement in which she asserted that the 2020 election was secure.

Lalonde said Fulton County is the only county in Pennsylvania to join Audit the Vote PA, and officials there spent $1 million replacing their voting equipment that was compromised during the audit.

Lalonde accused those advocating for an election audit of not defending democracy or the U.S. Constitution, but of “show(ing) their fealty to the former president, who lost the election.”

Matt Cornetti, of Clinton Township, said he is concerned about “anomalies” regarding the ES&S voting machines.

He said if the county agrees to a forensic audit of the election, private donations, not taxpayer dollars, would fund the effort.

Mark Nutter, of Jackson Township, said the group wants an audit that would allow votes made by registered voters to be thrown out if the effort is successful.

“If we lost the right to vote, we've lost everything,” Nutter said.

Suzanne Frees, of Summit Township, said while she hopes she is wrong, she believes that fraud occurred in the 2020 election.

“Our sacred right of voting seems to have been betrayed,” Frees said.

She said she appreciates the election review commission and the report it produced, but contends it left out important points.

Frees said those who favor an election audit are not going away.

“We proudly wear our badges of patriotism,” she said.

Dave Roberts said he is a retired Army colonel who served in two wars and has more than 34 years of military service. He took issue with the group referring to themselves as patriots.

“I've served elbow to elbow with patriots,” Roberts said. “Anybody can co-opt the name 'patriots,' but that doesn't make you a patriot.”

Kate Lennin, of Adams Township, said she has served as a pollworker in her township for the past four presidential elections. She said all pollworkers take their responsibilities very seriously.

“We go to training sessions, we review the handbook and we ensure that every American citizen in our district has the right and ability to cast their vote,” Lennin said.

She said in the Adams 1 precinct, President Donald Trump received 174 more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016.

Lennin said she cannot understand why the group is demanding an audit in a Republican-majority county.

She said the “ridiculous” and “frivolous” claims of election fraud are the cause of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol in Washington D.C.

“Continued baseless challenges serve only to disenfranchise voters,” Lennin said. “Or is that the true goal?”

Steve Crawford said he does not accuse the poll workers or county officials of fraud, but supports a forensic audit of the election.

“The vote tallies were manipulated through outside sources through the voting machines,” Crawford said.

After an hour of comments, White told those who did not get an opportunity to speak that they can send their written comments to the commissioners.

The commissioners did not speak after the public comment session and took no action on joining Audit the Vote PA.