Senate Intergovernmental Operations Considers Ballot Dropboxes

Today at 10am, the Pennsylvania Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee is holding a hearing on ballot dropboxes.

Livestream of the hearing will be available here.

Excerpts of testimony by Common Cause Pennsylvania Executive Director Khalif Ali

Denying the 2020 election results is financially and politically profitable: private individuals have been raising money for themselves on crowd-funding websites, using doubts about the 2020 elections as the fundraising hook. Political candidates who deny the 2020 election results are raising money at a record-breaking clip. Our former president raised a quarter-billion dollars – with a “b” – in just two months, promising to overturn the election results.  And we should all be concerned that nonprofits are raising millions of dollars in dark money by casting doubt on the election. 

One of the latest theories is that somehow, ballot dropboxes were misused in the 2020 election. Here’s the facts: dropboxes were available to voters in about 40 states – and were used by millions of voters, including about 37% of Trump voters who cast mail ballots. For voters with concerns about the US Postal Service, they are a trusted and reliable way to return voted ballots. And their popularity with voters crosses all partisan lines: elections clerks in Utah reported that in 2020, 60% of their voters returned ballots via dropboxes. 

Yet, in the wake of the 2020 election, there are people making money by casting doubt on dropboxes….

…True the Vote, based on the facts listed, has very little, if any credibility in the voting and elections space. So, we (Common Cause and members) are deeply troubled by not one, but two, Pennsylvania Senate committees willing to give them airtime to spread their unproven allegations.

Conspiracy theories may be like catnip, for those who want to doubt the results of the 2020 election – but they are doing real damage to voters’ confidence in our government.

…it’s unfortunate that our Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee is spending time and resources on this, today. There are so many other things that Pennsylvania voters are concerned about – continuing access to telehealth services, help with housing needs, the economy and better jobs. These are the things that our elected officials should be focused on, not trying to overturn the voters’ choice in the 2020 election.

Read the full testimony here.