Harrisburg, PA – Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt today congratulated the Benedictine Sisters of Erie for winning an award for political courage from the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS).
“The good Sisters earned this award by courageously challenging political disinformation when they were targeted with false charges of voter fraud just before the 2024 election,” said Schmidt, who nominated the nuns for the 2025 Margaret Chase Smith American Democracy Award.
“The Sisters thoughtfully confronted the baseless claims and used their time in the spotlight to warn the public that ‘a free republic depends … on a discerning and conscientious citizenry who do not unquestioningly accept the word of anyone who has a social media platform,’” Schmidt added.
Two weeks before the 2024 presidential election, when Pennsylvania was in the national spotlight as a battleground state, a well-known social media influencer posted to X that a ballot chaser had gone to the Sisters’ monastery in Erie, where 53 voters were registered, and found that “NO ONE lives there.”
His post – which included a video showing the names, ages, and alleged political “affinity” of the nuns – went viral. It was viewed more than 2.5 million times and drew 33,000 likes and more than 13,000 comments.
The Sisters were quickly inundated with support from the public – and with calls from more than 25 local, national, and international news organizations. In response, the nuns issued a press release and engaged in interviews with print, television, radio, and online media to correct the disinformation.
“We do live at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery and … [we] 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,” said Sister Stephanie Schmidt (no relation to Secretary Schmidt), the community’s prioress at the time, in the press release.
Sister Schmidt told CNN during an interview: “We’ve been in Erie since 1856 doing good work. These sisters don’t deserve to be put down by some misinformation that we’re a sham, that we’re a fraud.” She added in that interview that she urges the Sisters at the monastery to vote, but the Benedictine Sisters are nonpartisan and don’t endorse any party or candidate.
Sister Linda Romey, director of communications for the community, noted in an interview with The Spectator World that “in the 1970s our sisters were marching for peace in the street, so it’s not new for us to speak up for truth.”
NASS established the Margaret Chase Smith American Democracy Award in 1992 to recognize acts of political courage, uncommon character, and selfless action in the realm of public service.
Smith was the first woman elected to both houses of Congress and, in 1950, as a U.S. Senator from Maine, Smith jeopardized her career by delivering her “Declaration of Conscience” speech, during which she stood up to Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy’s red-baiting tactics.
To receive the award, more than 50 percent of the current Secretaries of State who are members of NASS must vote for the same nominee. Previous winners of the award include President Jimmy Carter; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; civil rights and voting rights activists such as Rosa Parks; and Laura Wooten, the longest-serving poll worker in American history.
“It was a surprise to be nominated for the award, let alone receive it! We were grateful to receive Secretary Schmidt’s phone call last fall offering his support to us during the turmoil around the fraud accusations and the posting of our sisters’ personal information on social media,” Sister Romey said. “We have committed our lives to seeking God in prayer and community in this monastery in order to be a presence for good in our local community and the world beyond. It feels a little awkward to be recognized for doing what is fundamental to who we are, following Gospel teaching, raising our voice against injustice, and standing for truth. We’re especially humbled when we look at those who have previously received this award. They remind us that we must all continually recommit ourselves to the values that guide our lives.”
The award will be presented at NASS’ 2026 Winter Conference in Washington, D.C.