(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro challenged a Republican-led election subpoena on Thursday, saying that it “goes too far” and violates the constitutionally protected privacy of up to 9 million residents.
“By trying to pry into everyone’s drivers license numbers and social security numbers they have gone too far,” he said. “Today we say enough is enough. What they are doing is against the law and we intend to win.”
Shapiro filed the lawsuit on behalf of acting Secretary Veronica Degraffenreid and the Department of State after Republicans on the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee subpoenaed her and her agency for the personal information – including names, birthdays, addresses, partial social security numbers and drivers license numbers – of nearly 7 million residents who voted in person and by mail in the last two elections.
Chairman Cris Dush, R-Wellsboro, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, as well as the committee itself are listed as defendants in court documents filed Thursday.
Shapiro, widely considered the leading contender for the Democratic nomination for governor next year, said the lawsuit argues the committee lacks reasonable justification for requesting the information, especially considering it’s based on “disproven” concerns about the integrity of elections conducted in November and May.
Shapiro… said the lawsuit argues the committee lacks reasonable justification for requesting the information.
He also questioned the constitutionality and riskiness of sharing the information with a third party vendor, as Republicans intend to do as part of an Arizona-style forensic audit.
“All we’re doing is seeking facts, seeking information, so that we can make better policy,” Corman said during the committee’s Sept. 15 meeting. “I want to be clear, the Legislature has no authority to overturn an election … the point is we have a public that is concerned about how the last election was conducted.”
The committee also asked for communications, directives and poll worker training sent between the department and the state’s 67 counties in the months and days before each election. The department was given until Oct. 1 to respond.
The Senate Democratic Caucus also sued to block the subpoena in Commonwealth Court last week. In the complaint, the lawmakers ask the court to halt the subpoena and declare Republican members’ actions unconstitutional and a violation of the audit provision of the state’s Election Code.
Christen Smith follows Pennsylvania’s General Assembly for The Center Square. She is an award-winning reporter with more than a decade of experience covering state and national policy issues for niche publications and local newsrooms alike.
This article was republished with permission from The Center Square.
Glad Shapiro is standing up to conspiracy theorists and protecting the privacy and security of the votes of millions of Pennsylvanians. Of course you’d think the utter embarrassment and humiliation for the GOP from the AZ “audit” (+ all the failed lawsuits and failed recounts) would be enough to slow these radical nuts. But as they say “insanity is trying the same thing over and over expecting different results” and the modern GOP cult is definitely insane! Looking forward to seeing what he does as Governor!
Will,
From the first page of the report. Correct information will benefit all.
However, while it is encouraging for voters, it does not allay all of the concerns:
None of the various systems related to elections had numbers that would balance and agree with each other. In
some cases, these differences were significant.
There appears to be many ballots cast from individuals who had moved prior to the election.
Files were missing from the Election Management System (EMS) Server.
Ballot images on the EMS were corrupt or missing.
Logs appeared to be intentionally rolled over, and all the data in the database related to the 2020 General
Election had been fully cleared.
On the ballot side, batches were not always clearly delineated, duplicated ballots were missing the required
serial numbers, originals were duplicated more than once, and the Auditors were never provided Chain‐of‐
Custody documentation for the ballots for the time‐period prior to the ballot’s movement into the Auditors’
care. This all increased the complexity and difficulty in properly auditing the results; and added ambiguity into
the final conclusions.
Had Maricopa County chosen to cooperate with the audit, the majority of these obstacles would have easily been
overcome. By the County withholding subpoena items, their unwillingness to answer questions as is normal between
auditor and auditee, and in some cases actively interfering with audit research, the County prevented a complete audit.
Shapiro will do anything to win. Lie, cheat steal. Also he will sue the Little Sisters of the Poor , twice.