The Republican Party chairman here is questioning whether Democratic congressional hopeful Aryanna Strader and her party tried to mislead voters into believing she is a Chester County native and resident of the 16th District.

Strader, an Oregon native who moved to Chester County in July, lives less than a mile outside the district but intends to challenge Republican eight-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts in the fall.

The Lancaster County Democratic Committee, however, briefly referred to her as a Chester County native on its website. And Strader, in a statement of her candidacy filed with the Federal Election Commission, listed a post office box inside the 16th District as her home address.

"We are concerned that misstating Ms. Strader's birthplace may be part of an ongoing effort to hide the fact that she has only lived in Chester County for seven months and, in fact, does not live in the 16th Congressional District at all," Lancaster County GOP Chairman Ethan Demme wrote Friday.

He said the use of a post office box inside the 16th District "could be interpreted as an effort to mislead the voters."

Both the Strader campaign and Democratic officials said that's just not the case.

Demme's letter was dated Friday and addressed to Sally Lyall, who chairs the county Democratic committee. Lyall said party supporters caught the error on the website and that it was corrected within 24 hours.

"The word 'native' should have been 'resident,' " Lyall said. "Other than that, the story was factual.

"The Republican Party has plenty of things to focus on, but this is a silly nonstory which isn't one of them," Lyall said. "Mr. Demme belatedly wrote to me about this after it was already off the LCDC website by a few days."

Strader, 29, is endorsed for the 16th District by the Democratic Committee here and in Chester County. She lives in a part of Kennett Township that is included in the newly redrawn 7th Congressional District, represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan.

While the U.S. Constitution requires House members to live in their home states, it does not mandate they live in the districts they represent. So Strader is permitted to run for the 16th District seat.

Strader has said she's running for the 16th District seat because she feels a deeper connection to Kennett Square and the surrounding community than she does Meehan's 7th District.

Strader and her spokesman said she mistakenly used the post office box address for her campaign committee on a personal statement of candidacy in January.

The Strader for Congress committee uses a post office box in Unionville, which is 6 miles north of Strader's home in Kennett Township and part of the 16th Congressional District.

Demme, in his letter, criticized the move. "She should not … misrepresent herself as a native of Chester County, a resident of the 16th District or as someone with deep ties to the community," Demme said. "Any such claims would clearly be false."

Strader said Monday she is seeking to amend her FEC filing.

"I was made aware of the address oversight and have already filed an amendment with the FEC to make sure we are completely within compliance," Strader said.

She declined to comment further.

Strader campaign spokesman Daren Berringer said it was an innocent mistake.

"She's been very open with voters and the media about where she lives," Berringer said. "She just made a simple mistake, a first-time-candidate kind of thing."

READ: Demme's letter to Lyall (PDF)

tmurse@lnpnews.com