FACT CHECK: Does Nobody Live At This Address In Erie, Pennsylvania That Has 53 Registered Voters?

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

A post shared on X claims that nobody lives at 6101 E Lake Road in Erie, Pennsylvania, despite having 53 registered voters.

Verdict: False

More than 50 Benedictine Sisters of Erie live at that address, which is a monastery, according to the sisters’ website and the Diocese of Erie. The Benedictine Sisters of Erie issued a statement pushing back on the claim.

Fact Check:

Pennsylvania Democrats are trying to keep union workers within their orbit, as more of the traditionally Democrat-aligned group support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, according to CNN.

Social media users are claiming that 53 people are registered to vote at an address in Erie, but that nobody lives there. The claim originates from Cliff Maloney, who tweeted about the address on Oct. 22.

“BREAKING: a member of the PA CHASE discovered an address in Erie, PA today where 53 voters are registered. Turns out it’s the Benedictine Sisters of Erie and NO ONE lives there. We knocked on the door because a Republican mail-in ballot is unreturned. Our attorney’s are reviewing this right now. We will not let the Dems count on illegal votes,” Maloney tweeted.

This claim is false. The address shown in the tweet is for the Mount Saint Benedict Monastery, which is where the Benedict Sisters of Erie reside, according to their website. It houses nearly “70 vowed sisters,” according to a September article on the Benedictine Sisters of Erie’s website.

Furthermore, several people on the list of voters in the original tweet do show up in the directory of the Benedictine Sisters. For example, Sister Placida Anheuser, who is listed, just turned 107 and “still motors around the monastery on her scooter,” per the website.

The Benedictine Sisters of Erie issued a statement on their website, saying they were “subject of fraudulent claims.” Sister Stephanie Schmidt, the prioress, said that they “want to call Cliff Maloney to account for his blatantly false post that accuses our sister of fraud.”

“We do live at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery and a simple web search would alert him to our active presence in a number of ministries in Erie. We also want to alert those who subscribe to X and other social media platforms to be vigilant and seek additional information before accepting these posts as truth,” Sr. Schmidt said.

She added that “[a] free republic depends on free and fair elections. It depends equally on a discerning and conscientious citizenry who do not unquestioningly accept the word of anyone who has a social media platform.” (RELATED: Did J.D. Vance Propose Mandatory Pregnancy Tests for Women Traveling Between States?)

Check Your Fact also spoke with two sisters over the phone who said they lived at the monastery. A Diocese of Erie spokesperson also confirmed to Check Your Fact in a phone interview that the Benedict Sisters of Erie live at that monastery.

Maloney based his claim on a conversation with a PA Chase canvasser. The canvasser wrote in a text message that “he kept seeing a church but no house” when he was at the address. It is possible that the canvasser who visited the monastery was confused. A 2015 article from GoErie.com shows that the sisters have guest homes located in the woods behind the monastery.

Check Your Fact also reviewed Erie County property records and found that the Benedict Sisters had a business living area and a boarding/rooming house built in 1970, which corresponds to the year the monastery was built (1969).

Screenshot/Erie County property records

Google Maps also shows the monastery, which shows a larger building that is attached to the church. This was highlighted by Fr. Matthew Schneider, who is part of the Legionaries of Christ, in an Oct. 23 tweet.

There is no evidence that the sisters do not live at the address and all evidence points to them living there. Therefore, we rate this claim false. (RELATED: Did Taylor Swift Refuse To Perform At Hurricane Relief Event?)

A PA Department of State spokesperson told Check Your Fact that Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt called Sr. Stephanie Schimdt (the two are not related) to thank her and the nuns for responding to the false claims levied against them.

“Those of us in election administration have been urging people to rely only on trusted sources of information. The good Sisters are definitely trusted sources. I thank them for courageously speaking up about being the targets of fraudulent claims regarding their voter eligibility. They have turned a regrettable experience into an opportunity to remind all of us to be ‘discerning and conscientious’ consumers of election information,” Secretary Schmidt said, per the spokesperson.

Update 10/24/24: This article has been updated to note that Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt spoke with Sr. Stephanie Schmidt. 

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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