Pences had requested absentee ballots

The author uses the past perfect tense ("had requested") rather than the present perfect tense ("have requested").

Is the present perfect tense wrong here? "Vice President Mike Pence and his wife have requested absentee ballots by mail" sounds better to me than "Vice President Mike Pence and his wife had requested absentee ballots by mail". I am not sure.

**************************
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife had requested absentee ballots by mail
Source: Indy Star

IndyStar has learned Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence in September requested absentee ballots from the Marion County Clerk's Office.

A senior Pence administration official told IndyStar this morning the Pences had intended to vote in person with those ballots today, before he abruptly cancelled his trip to Indianapolis

His office did not provide a reason for the trip's cancelation, but another senior Pence aide told IndyStar Thursday it was a simple scheduling issue. The vice president was in Salt Lake City Wednesday for the vice presidential debate and campaigned Thursday for President Trump's reelection at rallies in Nevada and Arizona. He flew back to Washington D.C., Thursday evening and had intended to fly into Indianapolis today to vote, heading back to Washington D.C., this evening.



Read more: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/09/vice-president-mike-pence-had-requested-absentee-ballots-mail/5937655002/