Election Integrity

Common Cause Pennsylvania, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Make the Road Pennsylvania, and the voters say that they have an interest in the case because voters’ constitutional right to privacy will be compromised if the Senate Republicans are allowed to enforce their subpoena for voters’ private personal data.

"These subpoenas are a frightening violation of voters’ privacy and an egregious abuse of power. State regulations specifically exempt certain information from public release, because of privacy concerns --  but these subpoenas would require the Department of State to provide that information anyway." 

Khalif Ali, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a good-government advocacy group that works on issues related to voter access, called the subpoenas approved Wednesday a “frightening violation of voters’ privacy and an egregious abuse of power.” “There’s no explanation about what they intend to do with the information, or why they think they need it,” he said in a statement. “They also have not announced any plans for security measures to protect the information from disclosure. … Pennsylvanians deserve to have their private information protected by the people they elected to office, not used as political fodder to appease lies told by a former president.”

Members of the nonpartisan Keystone Votes coalition today urged the governor to veto House Bill 1300, a sweeping but controversial set of GOP-backed legislative election reforms.

In a separate statement, Common Cause PA executive director Khalif Ali said a fiscal statement revealed a one-time implementation cost for the bill’s requirements at $99 million with annual costs approaching $19 million. “That’s an awful lot of taxpayer money for the Legislature to spend, to implement a bill that will make it harder for us to cast ballots and have our voices heard,” Ali said.

Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano visited the Arizona State Fairgrounds yesterday, where charlatan consultants have been conducting a sham review of the November 2020 general election. Voting machines and ballots have been irrevocably destroyed in the process. He is  proposing to replicate the process in Pennsylvania.