(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of state, Leigh Chapman, is already declaring that there will be delays in posting the results from the state’s midterm election, fueling suspicion that a repeat performance of the dubious 2020 vote-counting could help elevate cognitively impaired Lt. Gov. John Fetterman into the U.S. Senate.
Following the 2020 race, in which Chapman’s predecessor, Kathy Boockvar, overtly violated state election law to change the policies for accepting ballots, the Keystone State’s election-night victory for then-President Donald Trump was flipped to a Joe Biden win, securing 20 illicit electors to tip the balance in his favor.
Boockmar was later rebuked by the courts for violating the state constitution and ultimately resigned in disgrace, citing an unrelated ethical issue.
On Monday, Chapman discussed in a virtual news conference how her office would be handling vote-counting, stating that it will take several days to count and certify the votes, the Post Millennial reported.
“It’s really important for us to get accurate information about the election process in Pennsylvania,” Chapman said.
“So voters and the public know that when there are delays in counting, it doesn’t mean that there’s anything nefarious happening,” she claimed. “It’s just what the law is in Pennsylvania.”
Chapman said delays may come from poll workers not being able to canvas or count mail in ballots before Election Day, a requirement under the state law—albeit one that never created substantial delays prior to the 2020 election.
Chapman also encouraged mail-in voters to not delay on sending in their mail-in ballots, contrary to some public announcements that encouraged voters to turn their ballots in to their local board of election on Election Day.
“We have heard that there’s messaging out there in Pennsylvania, as far as instructing voters to hold onto their mail-in ballots,” she said. “As part of our voter education campaign, we encourage voters to request that mail-in ballot now and return it as soon as possible. We don’t want voters to delay.”
Republicans remain skeptical, particularly after the revelation that an election official in the state had mailed more than 255,000 ballots to unverified voters who could not prove their identities with either Social Security numbers or valid driver’s licenses, the Gateway Pundit reported.
Because the ballots have been sent without proper verification, there is not much which can be done to ensure they are valid.
The responsibility of catching the phony ballots has fallen to county-level officials, many of whom deny the existence of the bureaucratic screw up.
15 members of the state House sent an official letter to Chapman, slamming her for her failure. She will not face any other immediate punishment.
Several key midterm races are taking place in Pennsylvania’s midterms.
The governor’s race between Republican Doug Mastriano and Democrat Josh Shapiro has been hotly contested and closely watched.
Republican Mehmet Oz is running against Fetterman, who suffered a stroke earlier this year and is increasingly seen as an inviable candidate.
