PENNSYLVANIA — This week, Jake Corman and Pennsylvania Republicans took another dangerous and reckless step with their continued attempt at a fraudit of the 2020 election. Republicans are trying to exploit the people of Pennsylvania by subpoenaing their social security and driver’s license numbers as part of a taxpayer-funded probe. The press took notice — and Harrisburg Republicans are being slammed in national and local press.
In an attempt to clean up their disastrous week, Republican Senator Cris Dush launched a website claiming to “Restore faith in the PA elections” — but it only raises more concerns. Notably, the website admits that lawmakers are “trying to get my Social Security number and Driver License number,” that “the state already conducted two audits,” and that the only way they will protect voters’ personal information is with a non-disclosure agreement.
See below for local and national coverage:
The New York Times: Republicans Seek Pennsylvania Voters’ Personal Information in 2020 Review
“That’s a really bad idea to have private information floating around in a Senate caucus,” said Marian K. Schneider, an elections lawyer for the A.C.L.U. of Pennsylvania. “And it’s really not clear how the data is going to be used, who’s going to be looking at it, who can have access, how it’s going to be secured. And it’s unclear to me why they even need the personally identifying information.”
Salon: Pennsylvania GOP subpoenas personal information of every voter as part of 2020 election “fraudit”
“It’s clear these are bad faith efforts,” former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican co-founder of the group, told reporters, “not fact-finding missions but rather political stunts to keep the lies of the 2020 election alive.”
The Washington Post: Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers approve wide-ranging subpoenas for personal information of 2020 voters
“A partisan review of the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania threatens to endanger the personal information of the state’s 7 million voters. [The audit] is raising alarms among election and security analysts. They warn consolidating that information and handing it over to a private company for auditing could dramatically raise the likelihood of the data being leaked or stolen by hackers.
‘All of the information being requested by this subpoena is exactly what a criminal would need to steal someone’s identity and open up fraudulent accounts in the names of any of these voters,’ Maurice Turner, cybersecurity fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy and a longtime election security advocate, told me.”
The Daily Item: More unneeded overreach by state lawmakers
“People who have been concerned about privacy and individual freedoms regarding masking and COVID vaccines should be very concerned about the latest moves by lawmakers in Harrisburg regarding voting. Top Republican officials in Harrisburg know there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
There are a dozen other issues — the pandemic, jobs, infrastructure to name a few — that lawmakers could be using their time, energy and state taxpayer dollars on right now. Instead, they are going down a rabbit hole without a legitimate reason to prove something to which everyone knows the answer.
Buzzfeed News: Pennsylvania Republicans Subpoena Voter Social Security Numbers
“Before Wednesday’s vote, Democratic Sen. Steve Santarsiero pressed Dush on why the state Senate would need to verify voters’ identities after state and county audits already verified the election results. In response, Dush raised conspiracy theories.”
The Rachel Maddow Show: This is what Pennsylvania Republicans are working on now? If you voted in the Pennsylvania presidential election this year, they are now trying to subpoena your personal information
“The Republican state senator heading this all up doesn’t know who they’re going to give [PA voters personal information] to and doesn’t know what contractor they eventually pick, what this contractor will eventually do with it. But they want all the information now anyway, and they’re using their subpoena power to get it because, hey, Donald Trump might secretly still be president. How else are you going to find out?”
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