State lawmakers call for creation of a panel to investigate, audit election - TribLIVE

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Citing a deluge of calls to their offices and legal challenges filed by the Trump campaign, state lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House called for an audit of the election Tuesday as well as an investigation, complete with subpoena power.

The move seeking to empanel a commission controlled by lawmakers came as county elections boards continue to tabulate about 100,000 provisional ballots on the heels of a vote count that put President-elect Joe Biden over the 270-vote mark in the Electoral College.

Elections officials maintain the Nov. 3 election, in which a record 6.8 million Pennsylvanians voted, ultimately will be upheld as a “free, fair and secure election.”

Legal experts have dismissed many of the legal challenges sgainst election, including a recent one that targeted Allegheny County.

“Allegations of fraud and illegal activity have been repeatedly debunked and dismissed by the courts. Those attacks against the core values of Americans are intended to undermine our democracy, and we must reject them,” said Wanda Murren, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees 67 county elections offices.

Murren said the security and accuracy of Pennsylvania’s mail-in election procedures was underscored when the state became one of the first in the nation to undergo a post-election audit after its first time with mail-in balloting this summer.

The so-called risk-limiting audit, developed and conducted in conjunction with county elections officials, Department of State staff, experts from VotingWorks, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and Verified Voting found the June 2 primary, which featured 1.5 million mail-in ballots, was both secure and accurate within one-tenth of 1%.

Many of President Trump’s supporters, however, continue to repeat claims on social media that preliminary returns showing him losing by less than one percentage point in Pennsylvania — even as downballot Republicans won — are rife with fraud.

State Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, who is among those supporting the call for a legislative investigation and audit, said his office has logged complaints that suggest there is significant misinformation about the election as well as some that raise what he called legitimate issues. He said he is concerned about reports that elections officials did not observe consistent practices in how they handled mail-in ballots and whether poll watchers were given access in all instances.

“I feel good about how the election was handled in Westmoreland County, but I’m not sure about how it was handled everywhere in the state,” Nelson said.

“To me, it really isn’t about the winner. Regardless of who won, citizens have to trust the process, and that is the goal of why we want a bipartisan investigation or standing committee that has the structure and members of both parties to take a look and ensure that it was a valid process. Again, the most important thing for citizens is to trust that it was a lawful vote,” he said.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro repeatedly has defended the integrity of the state’s election. But a spokeswoman for Shapiro said lawmakers, indeed, have the right to conduct such inquiries.

“The General Assembly has both the authority and responsibility to conduct oversight and make improvements to Pennsylvania law, including how we conduct elections,” Shapiro spokeswoman Jacklin Rhoads said.

Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 724-850-1209, derdley@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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