PA RNC Official Arrested for Urging Voters to Stay in Polling Line

Republicans cry foul after Pennsylvania official who encouraged voters to stay despite long lines arrested at polling station
'VOTER SUPPRESSION.'

Cortney Weil
October 29, 2024
A Republican Party official was arrested at a polling station in Pennsylvania on Monday after she repeatedly encouraged voters to stay in line despite the lengthy wait.

On Monday, a video of the arrest of a woman at a polling station in Delaware County went viral. "Do not get out of line," the woman insists as several officers place her in handcuffs. They then escort her out of the area where many people were standing in line.

"Wow!" the man filming the arrest repeatedly states. "You locked her up? That is insane, man!"

"That's crazy."

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The woman arrested on the video was later identified as Val Biancaniello, a Pennsylvania Republican Party state committeewoman.

'President Trump's supporters should not be intimidated at the polls.'

Following the incident, Biancaniello claimed on X that an official with the Delaware County Bureau of Elections had told people gathered at the polling station that they "should only be in this line if [they] have a pressing reason to vote."

Biancaniello called such a directive "VOTER SUPPRESSION." "No one requires a 'pressing need' to vote by mail," her X comment continued, "that is why it is called 'no excuse mail in voting.'"

Biancaniello also alleged that an elections worker warned voters that the lines could be hours long, ostensibly in an effort to dissuade them from staying. "Can you imagine if we said this to a long line of Democrat voters?" she asked rhetorically.

Biancaniello claimed she was marched out of the area, handcuffed to a bench, and later released with a citation for disorderly conduct.

"I will fight that. I broke NO laws. I encouraged people to stay in line and vote. There are plenty of witnesses who know the truth," her X comment added.

A woman standing in line alleged in the video of the arrest that Biancaniello had been "influencing people," but the man filming the video denied that accusation. "She is not influencing people," he immediately replied. "She is not at all."

Pennsylvania law forbids voter intimidation.

RNC co-chair Michael Whatley shared the video on X, claiming that it showed the left engaging in "voter suppression."

"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," he wrote. "This follows reports from across the commonwealth that voters are being turned away in conservative areas. This is voter suppression from the left. Do not let them turn you away. GO VOTE!"

The Trump campaign likewise released a statement calling the incident an example of "voter suppression."

"Election officials in Pennsylvania must immediately secure a fair and transparent election for Pennsylvania voters," the statement said in part. "President Trump's supporters should not be intimidated at the polls."