Different Election, Same Chaos - Pennsylvania Begins To Vote
Ever since the 2020 election Patriot groups in Pennsylvania have pressured the state legislature to return the Commonwealth to in-person voting. The current mail-in voting system is too complex and too insecure. There are too many opportunities for fraud. The addition of drop boxes to the equation only makes it that much more chaotic.
No one really understands the rules. No one can police them. Even when people are trying to follow the procedures, there is tremendous confusion. Pennsylvania does not really conduct a single statewide election anymore. It conducts 67 slightly different elections, one in each of its counties.
The state legislature has done nothing. The 2022 election, which is already underway, will be a repeat of that conducted in 2020.
And the consequences of legislative inaction are already clear to see.
On Wednesday, Bob Harvie, Democratic Commissioner and Board of Elections Chair for Bucks County in Southeastern Pennsylvania responded to complaints about individuals putting multiple ballots into dropboxes by saying, “You can go to a senior center or nursing home and get 100 ballots and as long as you have 100 designated agent forms, you’re allowed to bring 100 ballots.”
Per Harvie, a single individual can deposit as many ballots as he likes in a drop box just as long as he has an authorization form from the person casting the ballot. This is an interesting idea. It is not, however, Pennsylvania law.
On the contrary, Pennsylvania law says clearly that a single individual can, for the purposes of carrying another individual’s ballot to a dropbox, only be the agent for those living in a single household. The law is intended to allow husbands and wives, for instance, to carry each other’s ballots to the dropbox. Even then it requires a form authorizing this action. The law in fact specifically says that nursing homes and long-term care facilities cannot be considered households.
During his comments on Wednesday, Harvie also maintained that election workers at the drop boxes were verifying that individuals delivering multiple ballots had the necessary authorization forms. Maybe this is happening in some places. Sources talking to AND Magazine from multiple counties across Pennsylvania indicate, however, that they have seen no evidence this is true These sources have observed individuals placing multiple ballots in drop boxes and observed that election officials at the drop boxes are not in fact asking to see any paperwork or asking any questions of voters.
This same kind of chaos surrounds every aspect of the election now underway in Pennsylvania. A short while ago, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that undated mail-in ballots would not be counted. That was not a bold innovation. The law, as written, says that if your ballot is not dated it will not be counted. All the Supreme Court did was tell the people of Pennsylvania to follow the law.
Every county in Pennsylvania is now reacting differently to this ruling. For instance, in Berks County, county officials have decided to help voters “cure” their ballots if they did not date them.
Whenever voters put their mail-in ballot in a drop box or place it in the mail, they receive an email stating that their vote has been received. Now, voters will receive an email telling them that their ballot has been canceled if it was received without the signature or date. That same email will inform voters that they have two options. They can go to the elections office in downtown Reading to correct the omission, or they can report to their polling location on Election Day and cast a provisional ballot.
Berks County Commissioner Christian Y. Leinbach, a Republican, pointed out the obvious in saying he was opposed to the curing of ballots. There is no legal authority in state law to take such action.
"We went through this in 2020 prior to the general election," Leinbach said. "The vast majority of county solicitors and election board solicitors looked at that (curing ballots) and said no, we can't do that. And they didn't do that. That, to me, is the real issue. We continue to have had basically zero [legislative] reform on election law since the 2020 election. The reality is we can't change the law and we can't clarify the law."
The state legislature in Pennsylvania is responsible for setting the rules for the conduct of elections in the Commonwealth. It has abdicated that responsibility. It has done literally nothing in two years to fix a broken system and restore faith in our elections. Everyone in Pennsylvania will now pay the price. It’s a different election, but it’s the same chaos.
BRAZIL ELECTION FRAUD DECLARED
Watch the DOMINOES fall now
https://twitter.com/esau7/status/1588167828556972033?s=46&t=yj1GLpBWqDAbGRoLrEL07w
As we've learned since the 2020 election, at the state AND federal level, there are GOP officeholders that are on-board with the election fraud infrastructure (tangible and electronic).
This is probably one of the way they derail primary challenges, and the UniParty appears on both sides of the general election ballot.
Others will disagree, but in addition to electing MAGA candidates when we can, we need to start taking some electoral scalps of establishment Republicans, even if it means voting for the D in the general race. As painful as it would be, it would help purge the GOP of the anti-MAGA power players. Think, for example, of unelecting Mitch McConnell next time he's up.