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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 22, 2020 01:16 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Bob Mensch |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Risk-Eliminating Election Audit Performed by the Auditor General |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation requiring the Auditor General to perform a risk-limiting audit of ballots canvassed in the 2020 General Election. The enactment of Act 77 of 2019 and Act 12 of 2020 provided comprehensive amendments to the Pennsylvania Election Code and made significant changes to the elections process in the Commonwealth. The new provisions of the Election Code were used for the first time in the 2020 primary and general elections, and involved some serious growing pains for many of our constituents. It is clear that the process of the election has led to many questions from our constituents, and that includes both Republicans and Democrats. Without criticizing the work of our county election officials, an audit to gather information related to the canvassing of ballots and the processes by which each county handled their elections would go a long way to re-establishing the trust of our citizens that Pennsylvania election process is fair and accurate. The audit will look at county-level information related to mail-in ballots requested, mailed, returned and certified, as well as relevant similar data related to provisional ballots. In addition, the audit will examine information pertaining to ballots mailed to incorrect electors, including ones sent to those who did not request one, as well as the processes for the returning of said ballots and the security provided for all types of returning options. There have been many claims about voter fraud related to the mail-in ballots with little or no evidence. While those claims are still being made, I feel that it is imperative that we use the Constitutional powers of a statewide office elected to audit such government processes as elections to determine once and for all how effective, safe and secure our mail-in election provisions contained in the Election Code may be. If you have any questions, please call David Kozak in my office at 717-787-3110. |
Introduced as SB528