Pennsylvania Republicans kick-start 2020 election review with hearing
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[September 09, 2021]
By Nathan Layne
(Reuters) - Republican lawmakers in
Pennsylvania will kick off an "election integrity" investigation with a
public hearing on Thursday, joining partisan efforts in other
battleground states to cast doubts on former President Donald Trump's
November election loss.
The hearing at the State Capitol in Harrisburg is expected to lay the
groundwork for an expansive review into the November presidential vote
in the state, which Trump lost to Democratic President Joe Biden by
nearly 81,000 votes.
Pennsylvania's election review will be closely watched by Trump's allies
in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and other swing states where they are
attempting to justify or forge ahead with "forensic" audits of the 2020
vote, spurred on by Trump's baseless claims that he lost due to systemic
fraud.
Pennsylvania has already conducted a so-called risk-limiting audit of
the November election, and all counties separately audited a sample of
their votes as mandated by law. As with audits in other states,
widespread fraud was not found.
Supporters of the former president have nevertheless pushed for
"forensic" examinations involving the inspection of tabulation
equipment. Their model has been an ongoing audit in Arizona that a wide
collection of election experts, Democrats and even some Republican
officials have rejected as a partisan operation run by contractors
without relevant expertise.
Pennsylvania's attorney general, Democrat Josh Shapiro, has called the
push for another audit a "sham" on Twitter, saying it was based on
"Trump's Big Lie" and vowing to challenge the effort in court.
The probe will focus in part on decisions by the Pennsylvania Department
of State to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic and
other measures that Republicans believe contributed to Trump's loss,
according to Jason Thompson, a spokesman for Jake Corman, the state
Senate's top Republican, and state Senator Cris Dush, the Republican
tapped to lead the review.
The Senate committee overseeing the probe is prepared to issue subpoenas
to county and state election officials to compel testimony and obtain
communications, Thompson said, confirming comments made by Corman last
week to conservative media.
"One of the things that the Democrats and the media have said on a
regular basis is that there's no evidence of fraud," Corman said on
former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast. "We want
citizens to come in and tell their stories firsthand under oath."
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Connie and Gavin Neal emerge from a polling place after casting
their votes on Election Day, in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County,
Pennsylvania, U.S., November 3, 2020. REUTERS/Alan Freed
Thursday's hearing will be limited to remarks from
Dush and Anthony Williams, a Democrat and minority chair of the
committee handling the probe, and a Republican commissioner from a
rural county, according to an agenda for the hour-long meeting.
No one from Pennsylvania's Department of State, the agency that
oversees voting, will testify because of litigation related to the
election, spokeswoman Wanda Murren said.
Dush took over the probe from state Senator Doug Mastriano last
month following disagreements between Corman and Mastriano over how
to run and fund the effort.
Mastriano had wanted to use Cyber Ninjas, the contractor overseeing
the audit in Arizona. But Corman had concerns about the firm's
credibility, a person familiar with the probe said. Mastriano also
wanted to pay for the investigation with private donations, counter
to the current plan to use Senate funds, the person said.
The Dush-led team is close to choosing a vendor to oversee the
investigation, the person added.
Mastriano did not respond to a request for comment.
The webpage established to collect sworn testimony from citizens has
received more than 250 submissions, although there are some
duplicates and individuals expressing opinions rather than testimony
about alleged wrongdoing, Thompson said. The submissions are still
coming in and will need to be vetted before anyone is called to
testify, he added.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by
Soyoung Kim and Peter Cooney)
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