Pa. lawmakers advance proposal to audit conduct of 2020 election

“Pennsylvania citizens have questioned the process by which the 2020 general election has been conducted.”

HARRISBURG — A Republican-led state House committee Wednesday afternoon advanced a proposal for a statistics-oriented audit of the 2020 election, citing a “litany of inconsistencies” in the way the election was carried out and a resulting loss of public confidence.

The vote by the State Government Committee to approve the measure fell along party lines, with 15 Republicans in favor and 10 Democrats against it.

The prime sponsor of the resolution, Republican Rep. Jesse Topper of Bedford County, said the full House might vote on final approval Thursday.

The resolution to carry out the audit said the inconsistencies arose from court decisions and administrative guidance involving the election. It added, “Pennsylvania citizens have questioned the process by which the 2020 general election has been conducted.”

Topper said the point of the audit is to improve on the election process. If the work is done early in the next session, it could serve as a template for some changes to be made legislatively in time for the next primary, which is in April.

But Democratic Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia dismissed the proposal as “political theater” and a “fishing expedition.”

Going around talking about “voter fraud” reduces faith and trust in the process, Kenyatta said, and Republicans need to accept the results of the Nov. 3 election and move on. He said people around the world “are watching us tear our democracy apart.”

The State Government Committee interim chairperson, York County Republican Rep. Seth Grove, rejected Kenyatta’s statements and said the audit was about improving the process.

“There is nothing in this audit discussing fraud,” he said.

Topper noted that within his own district, one county allowed certain ballots to be “cured” or have procedural mistakes corrected while another did not.

“That’s not fraud, but that’s confusion in the district that I represent,” Topper said.

The audit would be carried out under the bipartisan Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, and would involve the hiring of an outside entity to do the work. It would require that all counties submit data for a report to be produced by early February at the latest.

Kenyatta pointed out the committee did not know the cost of the proposed audit or the integrity of the firm that would carry it out. But Republican Rep. Cris Dush of Jefferson County said there was no question about integrity of firms hired by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.

Grove said it was not his committee’s role to determine the cost.

And, Topper said, the cost was not the point.

“I value the taxpayer dollars as much as anyone,” Topper said. The proposed audit, he continued, was “truly about giving our constituents confidence.”

He said it could “bring some peace to a very politically charged environment.”

Theproposed audit marks the latest follow-through by Republicans in Harrisburg on their questions and criticisms of the Nov. 3 election, the first in which the state used a vastly expanded system of mail balloting. Earlier this week, Grove said that legislative hearings on the election probably would not happen.

A risk-limiting audit applies statistical methods to election outcomes in a way that can detect possible interference.

Earlier, Lehigh County Democratic Rep. Mike Schlossberg not a State Government Committee member but recently elevated by his peers to caucus administrator said the timing of the audit-approval vote was “suspicious,” coming as it did before the results of the Pennsylvania were certified.

Schlossberg said it appeared at least in part to be an attempt to undermine confidence in Joe Biden’s winning tally of votes in Pennsylvania’s presidential race.

Republicans hold the majority in both the state House and Senate and thus control the flow of bills and resolutions considered for passage. Topper introduced his resolution Tuesday.

— Proposed house measure for a statistics-oriented audit of the 2020 election