Pennsylvania Republicans want to Create a Committee to Subpoena ballots

Pennsylvania Republicans want to Create a Committee to Subpoena ballots

 

Republicans in Pennsylvania began making plans on Wednesday to create a committee that would investigate ballots and be able to mandate election officials and members of the U.S. Postal Service.

 

Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed the committee and could possibly be voted by the Full house on Friday. Democrats expressed their fear that the proposed committee could affect the election and benefit President Trump with the Republicans in charge of the committee. 

 

This bill was established after Trump claimed that the Philadelphia officials prevented poll watchers from early-voting locations. Poll watchers were prevented from entering because the Trump campaign did not have them approved to work in Philadelphia. Also, election officials were following coronavirus protocol to prevent too many people inside to allow social distancing. 

 

If the bill is officially passed, the committee would be run by three Republican lawmakers and two Democratic lawmakers. Representative Garth Everett, who introduced the bill, dismissed concerns on Wednesday. 

 

“The only thing it has the power to do is an investigation,” Everett said. “It can’t make up rules, it can’t pass laws, it can’t do anything. Only [the legislature] can do that.”

 

According to Pat Christmas, policy director of the nonpartisan Committee of Seventy, voter privacy could be violated if ballots are allowed to be subpoenaed after they are removed from envelopes. On Wednesday, The House State Government Committee passed the bill at 15-10 votes. The majority of the members that voted for the bill were Republicans. 

 

A heated argument occurred on Wednesday about the bill between Everett and Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, who called the measure, “a threat to our democracy.” The argument led to Everett threatening to call security on Kenyatta. 

 

If the bill is passed by the full house, Everett claims that the work of the committee would take place after the election. However, the bill states that the work of the committee is to improve the handling of the 2020 election.

 

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