After a yearlong probe into allegations of fabricated voter registration forms submitted in anticipation of the 2024 presidential election, Pennsylvania has introduced criminal indictments against seven individuals, including six canvassers and their supervisor.
Prosecutors said Guillermo Sainz, a 33-year-old from Arizona, was the lead for registration initiatives within Pennsylvania for Field+Media Corps, a consulting firm for political campaigns.
Sainz faces three counts of solicitation of registration, an offense that forbids the use of money to grow enrollment. It is not yet clear whether or not Sainz has obtained a lawyer.
In addition to Sainz, the six canvassers face numerous charges, including unsworn falsification, tampering with public records, forgery, and violations of Pennsylvania’s electoral laws.
These offenses allegedly took place across three generally Republican Pennsylvania counties: York, Lancaster, and Berks.
“We are confident that the motive behind these crimes was personal financial gain, and not a conspiracy or organized effort to tip any election for any one candidate or party,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a press release.
Prosecutors said that the falsified forms came from across party affiliations, and that they believe the scheme had more to do with keeping jobs and making additional money than systemic electoral subversion.
A judicial affidavit describes Sainz’s alleged oversight of illicit payments. In his position with Field+Media Corps, Sainz allegedly procured “unlawful financial incentives and pressures in his push to meet company goals to maintain funding, which in turn spurred some canvassers to create and submit fake forms to earn more money.”
Field+Media Corps, based in Mesa, Arizona, is led by its CEO, Francisco Heredia, who last year celebrated the firm’s contributions to growing participatory democracy. The company appears to be mostly offline, with its website not being properly set up.
Field+Media trace is financed by Everybody Votes, a philanthropic organization dedicated to increasing registration numbers in communities of color. In the affidavit, prosecutors thank Everybody Votes for its collaboration with investigators.
“The investigation confirmed that we hold our partners to the highest standards of quality control when collecting, handling, and delivering voter registration applications,” a spokesperson for Everybody Votes said in an emailed statement.
Sainz held a leadership position from May 2024 to October 2024, during which he oversaw canvasser compensation based on the number of signatures procured. The affidavit describes his interrogation by attorney general agents, in which Sainz denied being aware of any payments being made for signatures.
“Sainz had to be asked the question multiple times before he stated he was not aware of this and that ‘everyone was an hourly worker,’” investigators wrote.
One canvasser admitted to fabricating forms to increase her earnings. Another admitted that most of his submissions were “not real.” A third said she forged forms, using fake identities, due to high quotas and a fear she would lose her employment.
In late October 2024, Lancaster’s electoral custodians flagged approximately 2,500 suspicious forms. Authorities’ suspicions arose over fake names, handwriting patterns, poor signatures, wrong addresses, and more.
A separate investigation in Monroe County resulted in indictments against three additional Field+Media affiliates, encompassing forgery, perjury, unsworn falsification, tampering with public records, identity theft, and election law violations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
