Falsely accused

Meet the Pennsylvania nuns falsely accused of voter fraud

By Majlie de Puy Kamp, Danny Freeman and Sarah Boxer

For a Republican canvasser going door-to-door to get out the vote in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the address on East Lake Road in Erie must have seemed like Heaven-sent evidence of the sort of widespread voter fraud many in his party have been complaining about since Donald Trump lost the election to Joe Biden in 2020.

There were 53 voters registered at the address, the site of a Catholic church, but not a single one actually living there, Cliff Maloney, a conservative operative and founder of The Pennsylvania Chase, claimed on X in a post that quickly went viral.

But there were voters at that address – dozens of them actually. Fifty-five hard-to-miss nuns of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie.

A so-called ballot chaser, who goes door-to-door encouraging voters to return their mail-in ballots, had somehow missed the packed parking lot and the bustling reception area where nuns shuffled between their simple living quarters and the impressive stained-glass windows in the chapel.

“We’re used to being accused of things like being too active. And we’ve always been very vocal about peace and justice,” Sister Annette Marshall told CNN in an interview Thursday. “But I’ve never heard us accused of fraud. … Or not existing.”

The monastery has been in Erie since the 1850s and moved into their current building in 1969, in part financed by sisters who formed a real-life musical “Sister Act” group to raise funds. Most of the residents have lived there for decades and are deeply engaged with the community.

“We’ve been in Erie since 1856 doing good work. These sisters don’t deserve to be put down by some misinformation that we’re a sham, that we’re a fraud,” said the prioress, Sister Stephanie Schmidt.

Maloney heads a group that encourages Republicans to vote by mail and is part of a larger, often coordinated network of conservatives who cast doubts on the security of the election, suggesting widespread fraud in mail ballots, sharing uncorroborated stories of machines changing votes and urging voters to be alert and document suspected wrongdoing.

Evidence for their concerns, however, remains as thin as it was in the 2020 election and local officials are actively trying to combat the flurry of false and misleading claims – like Maloney’s – that spread like wildfire on social media.

In a social media post on Thursday night, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said he spoke with Sister Schmidt to thank her for standing up to election disinformation.

Maloney did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

‘People can vote for whoever they want to vote for, but don’t lie’

In two weeks, all eyes will be on Erie County, one of only two true swing counties in the most consequential swing state in the country. Barack Obama won the county in 2008 and 2012, but Trump won Erie in 2016, followed by a victory for Biden in the northern-most Pennsylvania county in 2020.

The town has seen nonstop campaigning from both parties this election cycle.

“It’s intense,” said Sister Schmidt, 72. But even though she urges her flock to vote, the Benedictine Sisters are a nonpartisan organization. They don’t endorse a party or candidate. “Each Sister votes their conscience,” she said.

Some, like Sister Diane Rabe, have already mailed in their ballot. Others are planning to vote on Election Day despite their busy schedules.

Because the Benedictine Sisters don’t sit still.

Many of them were teachers or social workers in their younger days and have taken full-time jobs at the monastery since retiring. Sister Marshall, now in her 80s, is heading the climate change ministry for the Church and is in charge of hundreds of oblates, people affiliated with the monastic community. Another sister, also in her 80s, took over the hospitality ministry after 35 years of working for the food bank.

The nuns are mostly in good health – Sister Theresa Zoky, the flock’s personal historian and archivist, took a tumble at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport a few weeks ago and rolls around in a wheelchair while her leg heals – but all are alive and eligible to vote.

According to a text message Maloney posted to X, the canvasser went inside the monastery and was told that nobody lives there. But none of the sisters who worked the front desk remember ever seeing or talking to a political canvasser, according to the congregation’s communications director, Sister Linda Romey.

“No sister is going to tell him that,” Sister Diane Cook said. “If he went up to the reception desk and asked about who lived here, they’d probably hand him a list of all the sisters that live here.”

“We’re not a group that’s just going to let them walk all over us like that,” said Sister Cook.

“People can vote for whoever they want to vote for, but don’t lie,” she added.

Conspiracy theories lay the groundwork for post-election challenges

A high volume of mail-in and absentee voting in key swing states like North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada has already prompted a wave of Republican-led lawsuits challenging everything from whether mail-in ballot envelopes are properly sealed to whether they are postmarked correctly, laying the groundwork for potential challenges to the election.

Conservatives like Maloney recognize the Democratic lead over mail-in votes and see an opportunity. If Trump could get 33% of the mail-in votes, Maloney told long-time Republican operative Roger Stone on a podcast earlier this month, “he cannot lose because Republican turnout models are off the charts.”

Maloney launched his operation at the start of 2024 with the aim to knock on half a million doors in Pennsylvania and increase Republican mail-in ballot rates.

In recent weeks, Republican grassroots efforts in swing states like Pennsylvania have been amplified by Elon Musk who has put his finger – and wallet – on the scale for Trump.

America PAC, largely funded by the Tesla founder, and Turning Point Action joined forces in Wisconsin earlier this month, deploying hundreds of paid “ballot chasers.”

When Maloney claimed the nuns in Erie were engaged in voter fraud, America PAC retweeted the post, further elevating the false statement.

While most of the Benedictine Sisters don’t keep up with social media, they understand its power – especially during an election – and made a public call for Maloney “to account for his blatantly false post.”

Maloney acknowledged the controversy on X.

“If the 53 people registered at this address are legal voters… then I encourage them to participate in their right to vote,” Maloney posted.

But for the sisters, that is not enough.

“All they’d have to do is say, ‘We’re sorry. What we said wasn’t true.’ And we could say, ‘OK.’ And that would be the end of it. But they’ll never do that,” said Sister Cook.

That said, Maloney is always welcome to visit.

“I’d like to get him out here and show him the house and get him to understand what the community does, what we’re a part of,” Sister Cook said, “because obviously he doesn’t know.”