Recently, the House State Government Committee approved House Resolution 1032, which creates the House Select Committee on Election Integrity to provide oversight of the 2020 election to inform possible legislation before and after the Nov. 3 general election.
The Select Committee, which has subpoena power, is an exercise of the General Assembly’s constitutional prerogative to determine the time, place and manner of elections, and create committees to help it carry out its legislative functions.
In response, Pennsylvania’s House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin) made the following statement:
“By legislating from the bench, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that injected chaos into the General Election by creating election procedures not found anywhere in current law and ensuring Pennsylvania – and thereby the nation – will not have reliable results on Election Day.
“Given that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s election law changes raise serious questions about the security and integrity of our upcoming election, the House Select Committee on Election Integrity is an integral measure that ensures the Legislature can continue to exercise its constitutional prerogative and act as a check on this hijacked process.
“I look forward to seeing the work of this committee as we strive to guarantee the security and integrity of this and future elections.”
Gov. Tom Wolf, meanwhile, released a statement condemning House Resolution 1032 as a partisan attack on the integrity of Pennsylvania elections. The resolution, he said, undermines the authority of county-level elections officials and the Department of State to administer safe, secure and non-partisan elections. The following is his statement:
“The House Republicans are not only walking in lockstep with President Trump to try to sow chaos and put the results of the election in question, they are also taking steps to take the authority to administer elections away from the Department of State. The resolution also attacks the integrity of county election administrators. This is an unprecedented attack on non-partisan election administrators at a time when we should all be doing everything we can to instill confidence in our elections.
“Last year we came together on a bipartisan basis to pass landmark legislation to modernize Pennsylvania’s election system. Now House Republicans are hypocritically bowing to political pressure to undermine the mail voting that has proven to be a tremendous benefit to Pennsylvanians during the pandemic.
“Despite the best efforts of the House Republicans, Pennsylvania will administer our elections safely and securely. And we will stand up to House Republicans’ partisan efforts to interfere in our elections to benefit themselves and their political schemes.”
