Pa. election audit effort resolution rejected by bicameral legislative committee

A bicameral legislative committee Monday rejected a Republican-backed effort to audit the general election, but that didn’t stop a “very disappointed” state Rep. Seth Grove, who championed the idea, from releasing a report on the election just hours later.

During a meeting of the bipartisan Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, state Rep. Jake Wheatley Jr., an Allegheny County Democrat, called a possible legislative audit a “wasted effort” because the Pennsylvania Department of State is already conducting one.

“There are other ways to validate our election result,” he said during the meeting of the committee’s officers as they discussed House Resolution 1100, which was passed last week along mostly party lines.

Wheatley, the committee’s treasurer, and committee vice chairman state Sen. Jim Brewster, another Allegheny Democrat, voted against doing an audit while committee chairman state Sen. Bob Mensch, a Montgomery County Republican, voted for it.

Republican state Rep. Stephen Barrar of Delaware County, the committee’s secretary did not attend the video conference. A tie vote, however, would have also resulted in the committee not acting on the audit.

Later in day. Grove, a York County Republican and the acting chairman of the House State Government Committee, released a 45-page report describing the election-related actions taken by the courts, the Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, particularly directives from Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.

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“I believe any reasonable person could see the amount of confusion leading up to the general election,” Grove said, pointing to Wolf allowing late-arriving mail-in ballots to be counted until Nov. 6 as one example.

Grove expressed his disappointment in the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee’s decision, calling it a “partisan 2 to 1 vote” that reflected an “extremely rare” rebuke of a resolution.

The report is based on public documents, statements and orders, and no new interviews or research conducted by the State Government Committee. It does not contain any proven cases of fraud in the election, but includes several allegations, one of which involves Dominion Voting Systems.

Dominion, which provides voting equipment in 14 Pennsylvania counties for 1.3 million voters, has faced allegations and rumors in other states about its voting equipment and addressed them on its website.

Grove criticized the company Friday for backing out of a State Government Committee meeting citing possible litigation. He vowed to have company officials testify in January when the new legislative session starts.

On Monday, Grove also reiterated that he has submitted “an extensive list of questions” to the Department of State and the boards of election in all 67 counties, and asked them to submit answers by the end of December so his committee can begin a review in January.