Carter Walker

In-Depth & Investigative Reporting

• 'Flow from the pulpit:' The LifeGate church members providing security to Doug Mastriano [Video]

  Finalist for 2023  Livingston Award

  Working off a tip from a knowledgeable source and utilizing open-source intelligence, I uncovered connections between 2022 gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano's security team, an evangelical church wading into politics, and right-wing militias in Central Pennsylvania.

• Audit the Vote gave us its canvassing data to check the results. It was riddled with errors

  Finalist for 2023 Livingston Award

  In the winter of 2022, Audit the Vote PA, a group promoting election conspiracy theories, began releasing results from a door-to-door canvassing effort that it claimed showed flaws in the 2020 election results. I requested the group’s raw canvassing data so I could verify the accuracy of their work. The group had partly redacted the data it provided to me, but left enough clues that I was able to use other public records to determine who some of the individuals they had contacted were. Using this data, I retraced their steps and visited many of the same homes. My reporting uncovered significant flaws in the original study, including incorrect information, answers from the wrong voters, and surveys completed by minors on behalf of their parents.

• This Pa. activist is the source of false and flawed election claims gaining traction across the country

  First place for Enterprise Reporting in 2025 Professional Keystone Media Awards, Niche Publications

  This story involved extensive data analysis, public records requests, and open-source intelligence research to fact-check claims made by a Pennsylvania elections researcher and trace the influence those claims had had.

• Missing voting machine documents raise concern about Pa. county’s testing processes

  Featured in the Q3 2024 edition of Investigative Reporters and Editors Journal

  This investigation revealed that Northampton's machine testing process was much more flawed than a single, isolated error. By leveraging knowledge of correct testing protocols, consulting with informed sources who helped me craft records requests, and conducting an extensive records review, I was able to uncover that the county had not properly documented its machine testing. This lack of documentation made it difficult, if not impossible, for the county to prove that its machines were functioning properly. Despite the county’s heavy restrictions on my access, I reviewed thousands of documents and found that the testing documentation was incomplete, inconsistently filled out, and, in more than 150 instances, completely missing. As a result, the county effectively admitted its lapses and made changes to its testing process.

• Lancaster County president judge at traffic stop: 'You better check the registration on this plate soon' [video]

  After receiving a tip about an incident involving the president judge and a police officer during a traffic stop, I filed a records request and obtained the dashcam footage. The video showed the judge berating the officer for pulling him over. The resulting story was picked up by local and national outlets across the U.S. and Canada. This reporting led to multiple follow-up stories and prompted an investigation by the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board, which determined that the president judge had violated Pennsylvania’s judicial ethics code.

• Militia, 'patriots' met in Lancaster County 3 days before Jan. 6 Capitol attack; here's a look at why

  First place for Enterprise Reporting in 2025 Professional Keystone Media Awards, Division One
  Finalist for 2023 Livingston Award

  After it was first mentioned in a criminal complaint against Oath Keeper James Breheny, there was speculation that a meeting held on Jan. 3, 2021, in Quarryville, PA, may have been organized to coordinate efforts for January 6. I worked to develop sources in a local militia group present at the meeting, and in the first substantial reporting on the event, spoke with two attendees and obtained a PowerPoint presentation from the meeting.

• A group of notorious white nationalists met secretly in historic Lancaster County barn in 2020. Why here

  Through a tip, I was able to confirm suspicions that a local barn had been used as the staging area for the launch of a new white nationalist political party led by the well-known white supremacist Mike Peinovich.

• A brazen case of election fraud unfolds in Millbourne, Pennsylvania. What are the lessons?

  First place for News Features Reporting in 2025 Professional Keystone Media Awards, Niche Publications

  These Pennsylvania counties give voters a chance to fix errors on their mail ballots

  This story used information collected from public meetings, news reports, and a survey I conducted to create a map of the options voters in each county had for fixing mistakes on their mail ballot return envelopes.

• Staffing shortages and low morale in Sheriff's Office leading to intraoffice tension, problems for the court

  I began investigating low morale and staffing shortages at the local sheriff's office after receiving several complaints. During my reporting, a source told me that a superior officer had alluded to shooting his employees, a remark that several current employees I spoke with felt reflected a tense culture within the office. An analysis of staffing data obtained through open records requests revealed that departures had increased and the retention of new hires had declined under the current administration.

• How Philadelphia’s history of election fraud fuels Trump’s false claims about the city

• Broken Code: Pennsylvania’s Election Code is badly outdated. That could have serious consequences in 2024.

  Stories such as this, from my first year on the elections beat, won the Election Verification Network’s Pacesetter Journalism Award

• These local candidates have given oxygen to election conspiracy theories. Now the Pa. primary could hand them control over the 2024 election.

  This story involved painstakingly researching the social media accounts and public statements of hundreds of local officials and candidates to let voters know where they stood on the 2020 election.

• Ballot shortages, machine errors, voting disputes: Inside a pattern of election problems in one northeast Pennsylvania county

• DA spent $21,000, intended for drug enforcement, to lease SUV, records show

  Winner of the 2019 Truth in Finance Award from the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants

  After months of unsuccessful back-and-forth with the district attorney's office over a records request for civil asset forfeiture data, I found another way to obtain the records by submitting a separate request to the county government for all spending data and isolating the account I was looking for. The records revealed that the district attorney had used civil asset forfeiture funds to lease an SUV for his use. By comparing these records with his expense reports, I discovered that he had also claimed hundreds of dollars in mileage reimbursements while driving the vehicle. The county commissioners stated that the lease bypassed the normal county procurement process and questioned the mileage reimbursements.

• District attorney, veteran prosecutor clash over suspension

  This story is part of a larger body of reporting on the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office, done with a reporting partner. We discovered that a disagreement between the district attorney and one of his prosecutors led to the prosecutor’s suspension, an action that others in the county government viewed as politically motivated. The county's human resources department later determined that the suspension was "related to political campaign activities."

• 2016 Poker Run money missing

  Second place for Best In-Depth or Investigative Reporting from the West Virginia Press Association

  Following up on a tip, I obtained public records which confirmed that thousands of dollars intended for charity had been stolen, a fact the local government had never publicly disclosed.

• My number was F5637

  Third place for Enterprise Reporting in the 2017 Hearst Journalism Awards Competition
  First place in the Society of Professional Journalists In-Depth Reporting Competition, Region One

• Century-old law let voters file baseless recount petitions and delay Pa.’s election certification

  Stories such as this, from my first year on the elections beat, won the Election Verification Network’s Pacesetter Journalism Award

• Five years after trying to aid Trump, Pennsylvania’s Fulton County faces steep penalty

• Why election policy is still one of Harrisburg’s thorniest issues

• These three court cases could determine how Pennsylvania handles mail ballots this fall
  
  

Data-Driven Reporting

• Could Lancaster County one day vote Democrat? Here is what recent election data show

  While reviewing voter registration and election return data, I noticed that traditionally Republican Lancaster County had been slowly shifting toward the Democrats over the past two decades. Using a geographic information system, I created a time-lapse video to illustrate this trend. By incorporating interactive graphics, such as a photo slider, line graph, and search bar, I was able to present complex information to my readers in an easy-to-understand format.

• Automatic voter registration is getting more Pennsylvanians on the rolls, but they don’t always vote

• Philadelphia’s communities of color are disproportionately affected when mail ballots are rejected over small errors

  First place for Investigative Reporting in 2024 Professional Keystone Media Awards, Niche Publications

• Loss of dozens of experienced election officials could mean trouble for Pennsylvania’s 2024 election

  This story involved requesting payroll data from all 67 counties in Pennsylvania to create a database from which I could calculate the years of experience for all election officials in the state. With this data in hand, I was later able to pair it with data on election administration errors to show a correlation.

• Increase in ballot errors coincides with turnover among county election officials in Pennsylvania

• Republican voters drive increase in mail ballot requests in Pennsylvania

• Pennsylvania voter ID proposal may not move the needle much on election security

  This story used voting crime data paired with elections returns to show that the effect of a policy being debated in the state would be minimal.

• Machine malfunctions rarely get in the way of voting, Pennsylvania reports show

• Last-resort ballots are increasingly being rejected for technical errors in Pennsylvania. Why?

• Pennsylvania’s varied ‘curing’ policies affect voters’ chances of getting their ballot counted

  This story used analyzed a large dataset to measure the impact on voters of the various policies their elected officials had chosen.

• Pennsylvania’s polling place lookup tool has errors that could stymie voters

• Pennsylvania Democrats approach 2024 election with slimmest voter registration advantage in decades
  

  First to Report

• Philadelphia aims to speed up mail ballot processing with new equipment

  Ahead of the 2024 election, there was significant concern that Pennsylvania’s election results would again be delayed because the state cannot prepare mail ballots for counting before Election Day. I decided to add some data to the conversation by calculating ballot processing speeds for counties around the state. In doing so, I discovered that Allegheny County could count ballots much faster than Philadelphia, despite both being similarly sized. My story revealed that the difference came down to administrative choices the two counties had made and that Philadelphia already possessed faster counting equipment. But just three weeks before the election, the city commissioners were unsure or gave unclear answers about whether the faster machines would be used. Within days of our questioning, the commissioners scheduled a vote to decide with certainty what machines they’d use in November, and a 2-1 majority agreed to use the faster ones. Outside election observers also told me after the election that they believed the story helped provide "positive shaming’" that pushed the city toward clarifying that it would use the machines.

• Mail ballot application error adds to Chester County’s woes

• Pennsylvania calls off recount in Senate race after Casey concedes to McCormick

• Pennsylvania disputes claim that it’s in talks to share voter rolls with Ohio

• Pennsylvania plans to test out internet-connected pollbooks in 2026 primary

• Five of Pennsylvania’s ‘fake electors’ from 2020 are back on Trump’s 2024 slate

• Commissioners office shakeup leads to tension in Philadelphia, raising concerns about distraction ahead of 2024 election

• Cancellation of project to upgrade Pa.’s outdated voter roll system leaves election officials with no relief in sigh

• Pennsylvania’s redesigned mail ballot envelopes trip up many voters who left date incomplete

• Accused double voter in 2020 isn’t covered by broad Trump pardon, judge rules

• Social media posts falsely claim judge changed Pennsylvania ballot deadline

• No, early voting does not start in Pennsylvania on Sept. 16.

  This story served as an important fact-check of misinformation in the national media about Pennsylvania’s election.

• Duplicate mail ballots are issued to dozens of Pennsylvania voters

• Another change to Pennsylvania mail ballot envelopes: Full year will be preprinted

• Carlisle Proud Boy member targeted in search warrant tied to Jan. 6 plot

  When the Department of Justice announced that a warrant had been executed in Central Pennsylvania in connection with the Proud Boys' Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case, I began working to uncover the state's role in the plot. Using a knowledgeable source and open-source intelligence techniques, I discovered that the warrant targeted an "upper-tier" member of the group, whose identity had not been previously reported. The FBI alleges that this individual was part of the "security council" where the conspiracy was formed. This reporting led to a follow-up story that identified the third member of the "security council."

• Third Proud Boy in Jan. 6 indictment reveals identity; newly released chats show link to Pa. members

• Federal cuts to CISA programs make elections less secure, Pennsylvania’s Al Schmidt warns

• U.S. Justice Department presses Pennsylvania for answers on how it manages voter rolls

• ERIC data-sharing alliance helps uncover alleged double voting case in Pennsylvania