Pennsylvania Voters Concerned About Voting Irregularities

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, many of the voters in Pennsylvania and in my district are rightfully upset and concerned about the irregular actions which occurred in the past election. There are valid reasons for the collective feeling of disenfranchisement and of distrust stemming from various election processes and procedural changes which were outside of statute.

Thousands--no--millions in Pennsylvania have a feeling of intense frustration and believe that their constitutional rights have been violated. To start, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a 3-day extension for late-arriving ballots, usurping the authority of the State legislature and contradicting the U.S. Constitution, which clearly states: ``The times, places, and manner of holding elections shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof.''

These constitutional authorities are not fair-weather laws, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. The highly irregular actions of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court resulted in the unlawful counting of over 10,000 ballots that arrived after the statutory required time of 8 p.m. on election day--nobody disputes this--mitigating an accurate ballot count and, at the same time, fueling great distrust in the process.

Second, there are serious disputes over how individual mail-in ballots with technical errors were handled across the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania State law dictates that mail-in ballots must be signed, dated, and included in a secrecy envelope, and that ballots that are missing required information and/or signatures should be disqualified or, at a minimum, authenticated.

Just hours before polls opened, the secretary of state of Pennsylvania issued inconsistent and contradictory guidance, giving Pennsylvania counties the authority to decide whether to reject ballots that contained discrepancies or take additional measures to correct them. This happened. This is a highly irregular thing to do.

As a result, Philadelphia, Montgomery, Allegheny, and Bucks County, four of the largest counties in Pennsylvania, allowed literally thousands and thousands of ballots to be fixed or cured, a measure not pursued by most other counties and which violated State election law.

Third, Republican poll watchers in Philadelphia were kept at an unreasonable distance to observe the pre-canvassing and canvassing of ballots. Even after a court ruling allowed poll watchers closer access, Philadelphia officials actually appealed the order to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Why would local election officials make the process blatantly more restrictive to poll watchers, some of whom resorted to using binoculars to do their jobs?

This, too, actually happened. An estimated 687,000 ballots were counted during this time of no lawfully required poll watchers. Such actions, Mr. Speaker, raise very legitimate doubts surrounding transparency and accountability of Presidential election.

Further adding to the frustration and distrust felt by millions in Pennsylvania, the media projected the outcome while such valid disputes were outstanding before due process took place and well before judicial rulings were made.

In Pennsylvania, the cases before the courts could involve tens of thousands of ballots, of votes, an amount, if deemed unlawful, would mandate an automatic recount. In a close election, counting all legal votes takes time, yet it is absolutely essential to assure to a candidate, but more so to the voters, that the vote count be honest, lawful, and fair.

The implications for our country are significant now and beyond 2020. Along with a fair election of the United States of America President, what is at stake here is the integrity of our election process and the faith the American people have in it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source