Pennsylvania Republicans subpoena detailed voter info in 2020 election
probe
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[September 16, 2021]
By Nathan Layne
(Reuters) -Republican lawmakers in
Pennsylvania voted on Wednesday to subpoena the state's top election
official in a review that joins widely criticized efforts in other
battleground states aimed at fueling doubts about the 2020 election.
With a 7-to-4 vote along party lines, Republicans in the state Senate
committee overseeing the review will issue a subpoena for information on
some 7 million voters from Veronica Degraffenreid, acting head of the
Department of State.
Democratic lawmakers, who are in the minority in the legislature, said
they would challenge the subpoena in court.
The move advances what is expected to be an expansive review of
Pennsylvania's election last November and comes amid similar efforts by
Republicans in other key states to promote the baseless claim that
Republican former President Donald Trump did not lose due to widespread
voter fraud.
Trump's loss in Pennsylvania to President Joe Biden by nearly 81,000
votes was confirmed by multiple audits and certified more than nine
months ago.

Trump's allies in Michigan and Wisconsin are also pursuing election
probes, modeling their efforts after 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.
The broad array of information sought by the Pennsylvania subpoena
includes the driver's license numbers, addresses, and last four digits
of the Social Security numbers of all registered voters in the state,
separated by county and with distinct lists for those who voted in
person and by mail.
Cris Dush, the Republican chair of the Intergovernmental Operations
committee overseeing the review, said at a hearing that the objective
was to verify whether votes were cast by people who "exist" and to look
into various allegations made about the election to see whether they
have any foundation in fact.
The hearing became heated at points, with Dush cutting off the live
video feed multiple times as one Democratic lawmaker questioned whether
Republicans who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington would have
access to information obtained via subpoena. The rally that day ended
with a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Biden's victory from
being certified.
"We have every reason, every right to be concerned about what happens
with these documents, with this information," said Vincent Hughes, a
Democratic member of the committee. "You are asking for prolific
personal information."
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Electors and other participants depart under the watch of state law
enforcement officers after gathering to cast their votes for the
U.S. presidential election at the State Capitol complex in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. December 14, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan
Ernst/File Photo/File Photo

Dush said that unlike the audit in Arizona,
Pennsylvania's review would be funded by taxpayers. The lawmaker, a
Trump supporter who toured the Arizona operation in June, also
promised he was "not going to be hiring political activists" to
carry out the review. He said he was still vetting vendors.
Dush and Jake Corman, the top Republican in the state Senate, said
the subpoenas and the broader review were not aimed at reversing
Trump's loss, but rather finding any flaws in the state's voting
systems to inform future legislative fixes.
"The legislature has no authority to overturn an election," said
Corman, the chamber's president pro tempore.
Jay Costa, the Senate's minority leader, said Democrats would file a
lawsuit on Friday in state court asserting that Republicans are
belatedly attempting to contest the election, which by law must
occur within 20 days of the election.
"This is clearly a separation of powers issue," Costa said.
"We cannot some 10, 11 months later come back and try and do another
election contest. That is what the crux of this is about."
Pennsylvania's attorney general, Democrat Josh Shapiro, said in a
statement that, while the bulk of the information requested is
publicly available, his office would seek to protect the personal
data, such as Social Security numbers, also being sought via
subpoena.

(reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, ConnecticutEditing by Sonya
Hepinstall and Jonathan Oatis)
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