Secretary of state resigns abruptly after vote question
Pedro Cortes served under 2 Pa. governors
Pedro Cortes, Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, abruptly resigned from office Wednesday, three weeks after his agency came under criticism for a glitch that may have allowed thousands of ineligible immigrants statewide to vote.
The departure of Mr. Cortes was announced in a 349-word “personnel update” emailed from Gov. Tom Wolf’s office that offered no reason and focused almost entirely on his replacement, interim Secretary of State Robert Torres.
Mr. Cortes also served as secretary of state from 2003 to 2010 under Gov. Ed Rendell.
J.J. Abbott, a spokesman for Mr. Wolf, said he could not offer an explanation for Mr. Cortes’ departure.
Mr. Cortes served as the state's top election official. His departure comes a week after state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, chairman of the House State Government Committee, and 15 of his colleagues sent Mr. Cortes a letter “to express our dire concerns” about the disclosure three weeks ago that legal resident non-citizens in Pennsylvania had been offered the chance to register to vote while applying for or renewing driver’s licenses at PennDOT service centers.
Mr. Metcalfe, a Butler County Republican who has been preparing to hold a hearing on the issue before the Nov. 7 general election, said he received a phone call from the governor’s office Wednesday about Mr. Cortes’ resignation. Still, he said, he and his colleagues are waiting on an answer to their questions in last week’s letter. Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt pushed the issue into the spotlight three weeks ago when he announced that his staff found 317 noncitizens who had canceled their voter registrations in the city from 2006, when the state started using the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors.
In Allegheny County, election officials found 96 cases of noncitizens canceling their voter registrations since 2006.
The Department of State then said it had records of 1,160 canceled voter registrations listing ineligibility as a reason and said the issue was under review.