Pennsylvania Democrats sue over GOP election 'investigation' [View all]

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats in Pennsylvania’s state Senate sued Friday evening in a state court to block a Republican-approved subpoena seeking voter information and to put a stop to what Republicans call a “forensic investigation” of last year’s presidential election. Democrats had said they would sue within days after the Republican-controlled Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee voted Wednesday to issue a subpoena. The subpoena seeks detailed state election records, including communication with counties and the names of who voted in last year’s presidential election, their birth date, address, driver’s license number and the last four digits of their Social Security number.

The subpoena is an outgrowth of former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that he was cheated out of victory last November, and ongoing pressure by Trump and his allies for battleground states where he lost to investigate the election. “The latest ploy by the Senate Republicans is unprecedented and completely unwarranted,” Democrats said in a statement. “All aspects of the certified 2020 election have been thoroughly reviewed and adjudicated in the courts with no findings of irregularities or fraud. The timeframe to contest the 2020 certified election results is long overdue.” The 53-page lawsuit, filed by all 21 Senate Democrats, contends that the Senate Republican bid to investigate the election illegally treads on the court’s duties, violates state law over election audits and seeks information that is barred from public disclosure.

The subpoena was emailed to senior Department of State officials on Thursday, according to a Senate Republican spokesperson. The majority of the information being requested is already available to the public, according to state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. But Pennsylvania law prohibits the public release of a voter’s driver’s license number and Social Security number. Republicans have maintained that they are exercising appropriate legislative authority to oversee executive branch functions, and they insist what they call an “investigation” has nothing to do with Trump or overturning the election. Rather, they say, they are aiming to fix problems discovered in last year’s election and improve confidence in elections.

“Hopefully it will accomplish one of two things,” Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, said at Wednesday’s committee meeting. “Either it will give us action items to better our laws moving forward for the next election, or we can dispel a lot of concerns about the last election. ... I think both of those are good.” Democrats say Republicans are simply perpetuating Trump’s “big lie” of baseless claims about election fraud that have eroded confidence in elections and are on a path to try to take away voting rights and undermine both democracy and elections. Meanwhile in Washington on Friday, two Democratic members of Congress — Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, chairperson of the House Administration Committee, and Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, the committee’s vice chair — wrote to a senior U.S. Department of Justice official to request a federal investigation into the subpoena.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-pennsylvania-lawsuits-presidential-elections-state-elections-eb385ca3a6867aac19434105bdb47ec1

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Copy of suit (PDF) - https://pasenate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PetitionforReview-Costa-et-al-v.-Corman-et-al-9.17.21_timestamped.pdf

PA Senate Democrats statement - https://pasenate.com/senate-democrats-file-lawsuit-against-overreaching-senate-republican-subpoena/

Here's a tweet from the PA Senate Democrats talking about the suit filed last night -

Link to tweet

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PaSenateDems
@PaSenateDems
This afternoon, we filed a lawsuit in court to keep Senate Republicans from obtaining Pennsylvania voters’ private information with subpoenas.

We will continue the fight to protect the identity of private citizens and their right to vote without intimidation.
Image
6:52 PM · Sep 17, 2021

Link to tweet

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PaSenateDems
@PaSenateDems
Senate Republicans are issuing subpoenas for the private voter information of 7 MILLION Pennsylvanians.

We are taking them to court to keep your personal information kept private.
Senate Democrats to Take Legal Action Against Overreaching Republican Subpoena and Corrupt Election...
Harrisburg – September 15, 2021 – Following today’s Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee hearing, of which had one agenda item- Consideration of a motion to authorize the issuance of...
pasenate.com
4:00 PM · Sep 17, 2021

Link to tweet

TEXT

PaSenateDems
@PaSenateDems
Senate Republicans are subpoenaing your:

✅ Name
✅ Address
✅ Social security number
✅ Drivers license number
✅ Email address

We believe in your freedom to vote WITHOUT having your personal information exposed.

That's why we're going to court.
Republicans in Pennsylvania subpoena personal data on every voter in state - The Boston Globe
Pennsylvania Republicans moved Wednesday to seek personal information on every voter in the state as part of a brewing partisan review of the 2020 election results, rubber-stamping more than a dozen...
bostonglobe.com
11:14 AM · Sep 17, 2021