The Pennsylvania Department of State on July 8 directed counties not to let third parties audit their electronic voting systems, The Epoch Times reported.
The directive states that county election boards “shall not provide physical, electronic, or internal access to third parties seeking to copy and/or conduct an examination of state certified electronic voting systems, or any components of such systems.”
Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Veronica Degraffenreid, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, issued the directive to stonewall the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s plans to investigate illegalities and irregularities in the last presidential election.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office argues that “access by third parties undermines chain of custody requirements and strict access limitations necessary to prevent both intentional and inadvertent tampering with electronic voting systems.”
Former Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar ignored honest election procedures during the 2020 elections when she directed counties to help fill out incomplete—and thus void—absentee ballots and to accept ballots that arrived after election day.
The penalty for ignoring Degraffenreid’s illegal and unconstitutional directive may force counties to avoid cooperation with an audit by the General Assembly.
If counties allow the General Assembly to audit electronic voting equipment, then it will be “considered no longer secure or reliable to use in subsequent elections” and it will lose its “certification.”
“The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will not reimburse any cost of replacement voting equipment for which certification or use authority has been withdrawn,” the directive states.
Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman called the directive “an attack on the General Assembly’s power to review, investigate, and legislate in matters within its legislative authority, which includes Pennsylvania’s election system.”
“The Legislature has clear authority—both statutorily and constitutionally—to provide oversight and issue subpoenas,” he said. “This directive tramples those rights which were specifically put in place to prevent potential abuses and overreach by the Executive Branch.”
The directive does not bind the General Assembly because it has complete legislative authority.
Degraffenreid issued the directive the day after Attorney General Josh Shapiro threatened to block the General Assembly’s subpoenas.
