Pa. voters approve constitutional amendments to curb governor's power

[FakeNoose]

(cross-posted from the Pennsylvania thread)



(link) https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2021/05/18/pennsylvania-constitutional-amendments-2021-election-results-limiting-governors-power/stories/202105180166

This story was updated at 11 a.m. on May 19, 2021.

Pennsylvania’s primary election featured nationally watched questions stemming from Republican dissatisfaction over shutdowns ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf during the pandemic and worries over whether federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump will roll back civil rights protections.

Both of the ballot questions — which sought to limit the power of the governor in declaring a disaster and put more power into the hands of the Legislature’s 253 lawmakers — have passed, The Associated Press reported, making Pennsylvania the first state to impose such restrictions on a governor.

The two questions led with almost 54% of the vote with 73% of precincts reporting.

The first proposed constitutional amendment will make it so that the state’s General Assembly could terminate or extend a disaster declaration at any time without approval from the governor. The Pennsylvania Constitution will have to be amended so that the disaster declaration power will be shared by the governor and the General Assembly.

- snip -

The second question proposed that the time limit on a disaster declaration be shortened from 90 days to 21 days unless the General Assembly votes to extend it. Mr. Wolf openly advocated against these ballot questions in a visit to Pittsburgh last week, calling them “bad news” and saying that they would politicize the government’s response to disasters and emergencies.

-more at link -

In my opinion the questions were intentionally worded in a way to be confusing. And don't get me started on how they snuck this in on an off-year primary ballot with typically low participation.

[rickford66]

1. It'll change back when there's a GOP gov.

Republicans continually move goal posts.

[jimfields33]

8. Oh for sure they will

In reality, I don’t have a problem with the governor sharing responsibility with the state government. I mean a president needs permission from the United States congress for things. (I know trump was king or thought he was). I wouldn’t doubt voters remembered trump authoritarianism when voting for this.

[Dawson Leery]

9. True.

The GOP wants power over anything else. They demanded term limits after FDR only to oppose them with Reagan.

[Tree-Hugger]

2. GQP is fired up.

They turned out in higher numbers yesterday. They are fueled by their hate and their anti-science paranoia.

I responded on your other thread - I received so many mailers about voting Yes on those 1st two amendments. So many of the signs out there were "Vote Yes: End the Lockdown." I noticed private home lawns with signs for your Dem school board, our Dem judge, and then they "Vote YES: End the Lockdown" signs. Frustrating as hell.

We need to work hard to flip PA house and Senate seats.

[FakeNoose]

3. I agree that there was a lot of confusion on this

Even the "good" Dems were misunderstanding the purpose of these questions. It's not the FIRST time these evil Repukes have intentionally worded their crap in a way to confuse people.

[Tree-Hugger]

4. I heard...

In one of my local democrat groups, a woman said sone mailers were calling those first two questions "equality amendments." Very misleading.

[RobinA]

18. Yep.

Once again in PA Dems come up short when it comes to getting their point out. I wouldn't normally have voted in this election, but I specifically went to vote down these two proposals. I figured they would pass. The whole concept, which should be understandable to 5th graders, never resonated with non-Trumpers. At least, that's my read. I hope that the next time tractor trailers are backed up, not moving, for 20 miles on the turnpike in a snowstorm somebody will point out the connection between voting and real world events.

[mvd]

5. It's only Wolf's power that kept PA under control for a long time

It’s only when he tired of the Repuke nonsense and let up that numbers went way up. Now numbers are down again due to President Biden’s good work on the vaccines.

At least Krasner won. Philly’s violence problem is not his fault.

[FakeNoose]

6. Shhh the Pennsylvania Repukes don't want anyone to know this

Our Governor did an amazing job last year, especially in light of the vacuum of leadership coming from the White House.

Thank you Governor Tom Wolf!

[mvd]

7. He did indeed!

Thanks for the post FakeNoose!

[Fullduplexxx]

11. Primary Election Sees Low Voter Turnout Despite Key Candidates, Referendums On The Ballot Exit polli

Primary Election Sees Low Voter Turnout Despite Key Candidates, Referendums On The Ballot
Exit polling is hovering around 25%.

One day the dems will get it thru their skulls that sitting out elections is how they lose

[iamateacher]

12. I worked Dem table yesterday

Republican turnout was very high and organized.

[tishaLA]

13. Did Democrats actively campaign against these things?

In CA, the proposition wars are pretty epic--maybe more than political campaigns--and I've been away from PA long enough now that I can't remember amendments ever being much of a thing.

[ananda]

14. Jaime Harrison, what are you going to do about stuff like this?

!!!

[Demsrule86]

16. We need a Howard Dean...what real experience other than South Carolina does Jaime

Harrison have? I like the guy but we need a 50 state solution here. It is time we started considering winning elections is what counts.

[ananda]

21. I know. We need boots on the ground all the time in every state!

!!!

[iamateacher]

15. It is my understanding

That it was put on the ballot in an off year primary election expecting low voter turnout. Very little campaigning about it on the Democratic side, in my perception.

[RobinA]

20. Mine Too

The only time I saw any info about this was in print journalism and not ads, just articles and opinions. If you were a Dem you actually had to read to understand what was at stake. Never a good strategy. PA has two usual types of emergencies, snow and flood. I can think of some pretty graphic possibilities for ads.

[Amishman]

17. These should never have passed, PA has closed primaries and we have a huge 600k voter reg edge

This being on a primary ballot should have made it a slam dunk for us - PA has closed primaries and we have over a half a million more registered Democrats in PA.

Yes, independents could vote on Tuesday just for the ballot questions, but with nothing else on the ballot for them, I expect their totals were low.

[PA Democrat]

19. A LOT of money was spent by conservative groups to deceive voters about these 2 amendments.

Two conservative groups — the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation and Koch brothers-founded Americans for Prosperity — spent at least $150,000 in support of the amendments, campaign finance records show.

https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-voters-backed-curtailing-gov-tom-wolfs-emergency-powers-in-a-win-for-republican-lawmakers/

I saw several billboards locally and received two flyers through the mail with TOTALLY incomplete and deceptive descriptions of what the amendments would do. They urged people to vote yes on THREE amendments, one of which specifically prohibits the denial of equal rights based on race or ethnicity and offers additional protection against laws or policies that would deny Communities of Color their legal rights.

But the flyers said that the three amendments promote “equality for all” and protect local communities. Sounds great doesn't it?

No mention of emergency powers or the pandemic that has killed almost 27,000 Pennsylvanians. Just ignore those dead bodies folks, there are profits to protect!