Pa. House Republicans vote for election procedures study

Republicans in the state House on Wednesday pushed forward on party lines a proposal for a review of election procedures in Pennsylvania, although its author insisted he accepts voting results and is not trying to overturn them.

GOP members of the State Government Committee all voted for the measure, despite arguments from Democrats that any “confusion” over voting procedures — the basis for the resolution — had been caused by the committee itself.

“The confusion that we see, if there’s any confusion, was caused by inaction of this very committee,” said Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.

Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled General Assembly were unable to reach a deal before the election that would have let counties begin to prepare ballots for counting before Election Day.

The result was days of counting what was more than 2 million mail-in ballots. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrat, won Pennsylvania in a key step toward his national win.

“This is not about outcomes,” said Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford, who introduced it Tuesday. “This is about our process moving forward.”

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and county commissioners of both parties had repeatedly asked the Legislature to act, and it’s unclear how the General Assembly might want to revise the election law next year.

Democrats called the proposed study needless and a waste of money, and argued it improperly mandates participation from the Department of State and county officials. They said requiring cooperation has to be passed as legislation rather than as a resolution.

The resolution, which does not require approval by the Senate or governor, was sent to the House floor with only days left in the session and a long delayed state budget debate ahead.

It would provide a blank check for the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to examine various aspects of the election and report back in early February.

Topics would include how many mail-in ballots were requested and counted and details about the roughly 100,000 provisional ballots.

It also would look at the technical performance of the new voting machines used this year, how poll watchers were treated and the different county practices for “curing,” or fixing, ballots that lacked secrecy envelopes or had other problems.

President Donald Trump is pursuing litigation in an effort to overturn results that show Biden won the state’s 20 electoral votes. Biden’s margin in the state is currently at about 82,000 votes, or 50% to 48.8%.

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. In fact, election officials from both political parties have stated publicly that the election went well and international observers confirmed there were no serious irregularities.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, said the study was unrelated to the unsupported claims of fraud Trump has made.

“I don’t know why people keep mentioning this is about fraud,” Grove said. “It’s about due process, making sure we have accountability during the election process.”

The issues Trump’s campaign and its allies have pointed to are typical in every election: problems with signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, as well as the potential for a small number of ballots miscast or lost.