PA GOP Approves Subpoena Of Information On 9 Million Voters As Part Of 2020 Election Probe

HARRISBURG, PA — Republicans in the state Senate on Wednesday took steps Wednesday to secure significant amounts of Pennsylvania election data as part of what it terms a "forensic investigation" of 2020 election results in Pennsylvania.

Subpoenas were issued for information that includes lists of all registered voters, their voting activity, whether they voted in person or by mail, any changes in voter registration, driver's license numbers, and partial social security numbers.

The GOP-led Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee approved the subpoenas along party lines. Gov. Tom Wolf immediately criticized the effort as an attempt to legitimize the "big lie" that former President Donald Trump was cheated out of winning the election.

The subpoenas are not finalized yet. The Department of State or individual county election bureaus could still go to court to fight the order.

Although there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in the state, committee Chairman Cris Dush of Jefferson County said the registration and voter lists will help paint a more complete picture of Pennsylvania’s election system to "allow for positive changes to existing law."

The subpoenas apply to not just the nearly 7 million Pennsylvanians who voted last November, but to all of the state's approximately 9 million registered voters.

Subpoenas also were issued for all election guidance directives the Pennsylvania Department of State provided to counties. The committee also issued subpoenas for all communications between the state department and county election officials.

Dush said the subpoenas were necessary after state department officials declined to to testify at a committee hearing last week to discuss the guidance they issued to counties prior to the election.

"There was no good reason for our invitation to be ignored," Dush said in a news release.

"Subpoenas were not our first choice of action, but the refusal of the Wolf Administration to work with us in a bipartisan manner left us no other options to get the answers Pennsylvanians deserve.”

Wolf said the subpoenas were part of a "sham investigation" to bolster the GOP's attempt to destabilize the election system. He warned the inquiry will unnecessarily cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

“Let’s be very clear, this information request is merely another step to undermine democracy, confidence in our elections and to capitulate to Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 election," Wolf said in a prepared statement.

"It is a direct continuation of the same lies that resulted in the attack on the Capitol, and that have done so much to destabilize our political institutions over the ten months since last year’s election. As even members of the Pennsylvania Republican caucus have acknowledged, this
charade has to stop."

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