Will Voter Concerns Be Eased?

Chester County residents will see a new Director of Voter Services starting July 20, 2026 after years of high employee turnover, rising budgets, and major election mistakes that impacted voters in 2025. On June 17, 2026, the Chester County Commissioners announced that Michele DiCaprio will succeed Karen Barsoum as the new director.

After the 2025 Municipal General Election error that left thousands of voters out of the precinct poll books, county officials listened to the demands for change from community members. An action plan and a new director are the primary results of citizen outcry. The problems facing Chester County’s Department of Voter Services are numerous, but primary among them are: an inexperienced staff and diminished trust in election processes and results by the public.

The most recent monthly update on the Action Plan for Voter Services shows progress toward meeting certain established goals. But all eyes will be on Ms. DiCaprio as she takes the department reins only a few months before a gubernatorial election. If residents were expecting the new director to be experienced with Pennsylvania election law and voting practices, then they will be extremely disappointed

Background

Michele DiCaprio relocated to Thornbury Township, Chester County less than 12 months ago after her employment with the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Mozambique came to an end. In the county’s announcement, Ms. DiCaprio is quoted as saying, “I look forward to working with the Voter Services team to ensure secure, accurate, and efficient elections for every voter in Chester County. Elections are the foundation of our democracy, and I am committed to serving voters with integrity and transparency.” That is exactly what we expect of an election official – non-partisan, by-the-book, secure but transparent processes to rebuild the trust of voters.

However, upon deeper inspection, it appears that Ms. DiCaprio’s heart may lie elsewhere. According to her LinkedIn profile, she seems more interested in human rights abuses, sustainable social change, and denouncing federal spending cuts. Many of her posts indicate her passion for and defense of USAID and the work it did around the world.

Ms. DiCaprio’s role as a foreign service officer in Mozambique equipped her with operational planning, financial management, and staff training experience which are transferrable skills needed in Voter Services. Her role with USAID in Mozambique was as the Democracy, Rights, and Governance Team Lead. She worked to help “advance governance, human rights, and democratization,” and part of that included overseeing election operations, according to the county notice. Her previous employment, according to her LinkedIn profile, included analyzing the effectiveness of counterterrorism partnerships for the U.S. Department of State.

Mozambique History

Mozambique is a former Portuguese colony. The Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) organized, fought, and won independence from Portugal in 1974. Since that time, only one political party has ruled Mozambique – FRELIMO. Since its independence over 50 years ago, the country has been plagued by political and social unrest.

USAID entered the country over 40 years ago with the Clinton administration’s focus on foreign nation-building efforts. The purpose was to assist Mozambique in keeping peace, to help the population become economically and socially productive, and to initiate multiparty elections. Although some humanitarian strides have been made with USAID’s work, poverty still impacts Mozambique, according to a report from the United Nations Development Programme.

In addition, reports from recent elections in 2023 indicate election “irregularities and violent crackdowns on opposition protests.” According to the Zitamar News, the European Union (E.U.) sent observers to monitor the October 9, 2024 election. The E.U. issued a report saying the general election was “marred by irregularities, evidence of fraud and mistrust in the electoral authorities from start to finish.” The article cites issues of “extreme lack of transparency” and “an excess registration of voters, which led to 650,000 more voters being registered than projected population figures would have forecast” from the report.

Inflated Voter Registration

The over-registration issue that supposedly occurred in Mozambique may seem familiar. Think back to the 2020 U.S. General Election where similar claims of more votes than census population projections deem possible were made by data experts. Election and government officials told people at that time that the 2020 election “was the most secure in American history.” Many do not believe their claim five and a half years later. Consider that the Fulton County, Georgia election officials admitted in December 2025 that they fraudulently counted 315,000 votes in the 2020 General Election. Some question that if it happened in one county in Georgia and it took five years to prove, then how do we know it didn’t occur elsewhere throughout the country, including in Chester County?

Mozambique to Pennsylvania

Michele DiCaprio’s five years in Mozambique correspond to their recent election concerns and uprisings. She witnessed the election process, the media coverage, and the skepticism voters had about the declared outcomes. Perhaps Ms. DiCaprio will share some lessons learned in the Mozambique elections with Chester County.

Mozambique uses paper ballots that are hand-counted. Although many voters do not trust the ES&S electronic voting machines used in the county, it is doubtful hand-counting will be forthcoming. Does Ms. DiCaprio understand how the voter registrations were inflated in Mozambique? Will she use that information to improve processes here? Voter roll maintenance is a high priority for many. The law requires that voter registration records are regularly reviewed to ensure that only U.S. citizens who actually reside within a specific precinct are able to vote. That process should be taking place now. Given her experiences abroad, Ms. DiCaprio will surely understand why this is such an important measure in preparing for fair elections.

The criticism that elections were not transparent in Mozambique can be equally applied by some to Chester County. Ms. DiCaprio’s promise to run secure and accurate elections while being transparent will be put to the test.

Bottom line…

As the new Director of Voter Services, Michele DiCaprio faces a relatively inexperienced staff and a portion of the electorate that is skeptical of the security and accuracy of Chester County’s elections. Institutional knowledge of election processes is gone due to the staff turnover that took place over the last five years. With her own lean resume on elections, Ms. DiCaprio will need to quickly get up to speed on the systems, processes, and legal requirements exercised in Chester County. Building a knowledgeable and well-functioning staff while running transparent, accurate, and secure elections is no small task. But Chester County residents deserve to have their trust restored in their election workers and processes. What lessons were learned in Mozambique and will they benefit Chester County? The voters will be watching!