Almost Like They Intend To Cheat In PA - Again
For two years the Patriot movement in Pennsylvania has attempted to get the state legislature to fix the broken electoral system and restore faith in the Commonwealth’s elections. For two years the legislature, under Republican control, has done nothing. A constitutional amendment introduced by Senator Doug Mastriano to return the state to in-person voting sits to this day in the Senate State Government Committee effectively killed by the committee chairman, Senator David Argall. The bill has been in committee since September of 2021 without being brought to a vote.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party machine that handed Biden victory in Pennsylvania in 2020 is moving full speed ahead to guarantee that the results of the next election will be just as rigged as they were last time. The latest move in that regard came Friday when the Secretary of State’s office stepped in to attempt to head off the efforts of the citizens of Lycoming County to return to the use of hard copy hand-marked ballots instead of voting machines.
Residents of Lycoming County have been successful in obtaining the necessary number of signatures on a petition to have the question of voting machines placed on the ballot for the coming election. Voters in Lycoming County will be able to vote on the question of whether or not to return to the county to the use of hard copy ballots and to outlaw the use of electronic voting machines.
The use of voting machines introduces all sorts of ambiguities and vulnerabilities into the voting process. The software can be manipulated. Much of it is proprietary – meaning only the maker of the machine really knows how it works. Often, county election officials are denied any real visibility into the functioning of the software and how exactly election results are tabulated.
Based on these concerns, the citizens of Lycoming County decided they were worried enough about the use of voting machines to get the entire question placed on the ballot. Pursuant to well-established, legal means, they determined to allow the residents of Lycoming County to decide for themselves how best to conduct free and fair elections.
Harrisburg wants no part of that. Allow the people to decide how to conduct an election? Simplify the process and guarantee transparency? Not as long as Governor Wolf and his handpicked Secretary of State Leigh Chapman are around.
Friday, the Secretary of State’s office in Harrisburg sent a letter to Forrest Lehman, the Director of Elections for Lycoming County. That letter read in part:
“The Pennsylvania Department of State has learned the Lycoming County Board of Elections has been approached numerous times by county residents demanding a referendum be placed on the ballot for the November 8, 2022, general election pursuant to 25 P.S. § 303l.4(e). That provision allows electors of a county or municipality to place a referendum on the ballot that, if approved, would "direct the discontinuance of the use of [an electronic voting system] at all elections held in such county or municipality."
“Certain electors in pockets of the Commonwealth have voiced support for removal of electronic voting systems, some having advanced 25 P.S. § 3031.4 as a vehicle for doing so. Some of these advocates evidence strong emotions, and several boards of elections have found public meetings more challenging due to the commitment of these groups and the time such advocacy requires of the boards. The Lycoming County Board of Commissioners is among these boards, and I understand the challenges you face.”
The letter then went on to state that:
“the law clearly prohibits referenda regarding whether to use electronic voting systems.” The entire basis for this statement appears to be the argument that without electronic voting machines individuals with disabilities will be unable to vote. It should be noted that there has been no indication whatsoever that anyone in Lycoming County intends to prevent disabled individuals from being able to vote or refuse to provide appropriate accommodations to them.
The Secretary of State's letter concluded by ordering Lycoming County to respond by Tuesday, September 13th, and then, just for good measure, noting that the Department of State’s General Counsel’s office would be reviewing the state’s legal options in the event Lycoming County did not knuckle under.
The contempt and deceit evidenced by the letter sent to Lycoming County are staggering if not surprising. The functionaries in Harrisburg are shocked by the “emotion” displayed by the yokels in the hinterlands. They almost visibly shudder at the idea that the citizens of one of the state’s counties are expressing themselves and demanding accountability from their elected officials. The mandarins behind their desks in the state capital express their sympathies to those poor county officials who are forced to meet with the great unwashed and actually listen to their pointless whining.
But in the end, sympathy or no sympathy, there can be no debate about one thing as far as Harrisburg is concerned. Electronic voting machines will be used. There will be no hand-counted hard copy ballots that can be examined, reviewed, and tabulated in a simple, transparent fashion. The process will continue to rely upon software and hardware that is outside the effective control of county election officials and can never be fully trusted.
Which, I suppose, leaves us with one very obvious question. Why? Why is the Democratic Party so completely committed to the use of a system replete with vulnerabilities and so prone to manipulation and abuse?
If you didn’t know better, you might think it’s because they intend to use that system to cheat.
Again.
As citizens, we must keep fighting for a return to in-person voting, paper ballots, no machines, no drop boxes. Ballots must be counted at the precincts before submitting them to voter services. Don't give up!
Why have the Republicans in a Republican controlled General Assembly blocked Mastriano's proposed amendment?
Why did Mastriano and all the Republicans vote for Act 77 in 2019?
How do we overcome them?