Posted on 07/17/2022 10:13:23 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
Per The Federalist:
Passed by the state’s Republican-majority legislature and signed into law by Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday, the legislation (SB 982) mandates that Pennsylvania public officials “may not solicit, apply for, enter into a contract for or receive or expend gifts, donations, grants or funding from any individual, business, organization, trust, foundation, or any nongovernmental entity for the registration of voters or the preparation, administration or conducting of an election in [the] Commonwealth.”
Also included in the bill is the establishment of an “election integrity grant program,” wherein the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development is permitted to distribute grants “to counties for the administration of elections.” Beginning Aug. 1, counties will be allowed to submit applications to receive funds from the program, with the size of the grant received by a county determined “by the quotient of the county’s number of registered voters divided by the total number of registered voters in all counties.”
The law goes on to specify that the grant funds can only be used under certain circumstances, including the “payment of staff needed to pre-canvass mail-in ballots and absentee ballots,” “physical security and transparency costs for centralized pre-canvassing and canvassing,” and “processing of voter registration applications,” and some other uses.
In an interview with the outlet, Sen. Lisa Baker, the bill’s primary sponsor, noted that she and co-sponsor Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill introduced it “because Pennsylvania needs to see action on actual reforms that will improve an election system that has been severely tried and tested in recent years.”
Pennsylvania lawmakers took another step towards enhancing election integrity ahead of what are expected to be highly contested midterm races.
According to a Friday report, the Commonwealth has banned public officials from using private funds to conduct elections.
“We believe reform begins with prohibiting private groups from funding election administration. Voting is among our basic rights, and the responsibility for properly running and funding elections is vested in government,” Baker added, according to the outlet.
“No matter who on the outside is contributing, no matter their expressed motivations, millions of dollars coming in from national figures or organizations naturally raises suspicions of hidden agendas,” she said.
The Federalist noted further that Wolf’s signing of the bill was surprising to some because members of his office reportedly actively colluded with “left-wing activists to secure millions in private money to run get-out-the-vote efforts in blue counties” throughout the state ahead of the 2020 election, the outlet reported separately:
As reported by The Federalist’s Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland, during an April hearing held by the Pennsylvania legislature, state lawmakers heard public testimony revealing that “beginning in July 2020, consultants working for leftist organizations coordinated with local election officials and Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s office to lobby five blue counties to apply for these private grants,” with the funds originating from groups such as the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL).
A non-profit organization that was funded largely by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to the tune of some $400 million, CTCL played a major role in “altering state and local election operations in battleground states across the country” during the previous election cycle, the outlet reported, though the efforts are not being called into legal question, per se.
In Pennsylvania alone, the outlet continued, CTCL spent around $25 million in “Zuckbucks” with the “5 biggest grants per capita in CTCL-funded counties” going to regions where Joe Biden won.
America has the best gubmint money can buy.
Great news. Surprised that Wolf signed it.
However, being the cynic that I am, Wolf signs it because he knows it doesn’t matter. Big Tech doesn’t need to sign any agreements or contracts to do the bidding of the Left or any of its candidates. They know exactly what needs to be done. And will do it with enthusiasm.
Exactly. He would not have signed it unless he knew that the fix is already in for the 2022 election.
Wolf signed it because he knows the Left has ways around and this will appease the right from doing anything more.
How did the covid nose Wolf sign this?
The courts will say that this doesn’t apply to churches. Zuckerberg will suddenly be a penacostalist.
I certainly hope Unions are not exempted.
PA's Republican General Assembly has done nothing to stop voter fraud IMHO.
Didn’t go far enough. Out of state donations, foreign donations donations from corporations whose headquarters are not located in the state.
There are all kinds of things they can do and haven’t because the money is very good.
When some Hungarian dude can throw a lot of money at special interest groups in this country and cause chaos, and we do absolutely nothing about it? That’s BS.
It’s a good start.
Two further suggestions:
1. Candidates may only receive campaign funds from those who can vote for them.
2. The wealthy may not contribute to campaigns.
This is why we “election deniers” matter
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