Posted on 11/20/2020 10:58:20 AM PST by SeekAndFind
HARRISBURG — A deeply divided state House on Thursday voted to approve a Republican-sponsored measure that sets up a near-immediate audit of the 2020 election, citing inconsistencies and confusion in the electorate as evidence the process must be improved for future elections in the state.
The chamber voted 112 to 90 for a resolution that told the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, or a contractor it will hire, to conduct the audit and report back by early February.
Republicans argued they were responding to constituents who were confused by some of the procedures as the state conducted a high-turnout election during a pandemic and under greatly expanded mail-in voting eligibility.
Democratic arguments that the measure should be revised or was unconstitutional were defeated by the GOP majority.
“There is no need to fear this audit. I welcome it. We all should welcome it, to find out what went right and what went wrong,” said Bedford County Rep. Jesse Topper, the prime sponsor of the resolution.
The resolution does not require approval by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf or the state Senate. There is no limit on how much the committee can spend on the study.
Separately, the Department of State plans another “risk limiting” audit under a pilot program to apply statistical tools that will measure the election’s accuracy and check for possible interference.
This second audit is to involve data from every county.
Democrats attacked the proposal, calling it unconstitutional, damaging to democracy and unnecessary.
Mr. Wolf issued a written statement by email during the debate, saying any audit done by this approach would be “incomplete, duplicative and unreliable.”
The committee is expected to generate a report that is to include, for each county and for the state as a whole:
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Unacceptable.
After mass amnesty, they won’t need to cheat so it won’t matter.
-PJ
The problem with this thinking is the impact of the 14th Amendment.
14th Amendment Clause 2
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
All it will take is for a voter (or perhaps a candidate Elector) to appeal to the Supreme Court that failure of the PA legislature to appoint Electors abridges the voters and must result in the disqualification of the entire Pennsylvania House delegation from Congress.
-PJ
Certify now. Pretend to care later, but everyone knows later will never come. And, even if it does, it will be a whitewash and no substantive changes will be made, because the corrupt like a corrupt process. Who needs voters, when votes in any number can be created out of thin air?
Now THAT gives me heart.! I feel pretty good about that...
That’s actually why I made Georgia the second state in my list. Ideally, PA, GA, WS, MI, MN, VA, AZ, and NV would fail to certify.
-PJ
Translation: “We’ll fix it next time for sure.”
Yeah, that's what it was, a house committee.. Sorry about that..
All Trump needs is to show the fraud that occurred in WI, MI and PA which was EPIC.
These republican legislatures cannot certify this fraud. I fully expect DJT to be sworn into his 2nd term in January.
The presumption is a failure to appoint electors in PA would be equaled in WI, MI, GA and AZ. I think even that would not suffice. But it seems impossible the contingent election in the House only takes place when the count is exactly equal.
It's not when it's exactly equal, it's when nobody reaches a majority of the votes cast.
The only way it can happen with two major parties is an equal vote of 269-269, but historically it happened with multiple party candidates receiving votes.
If Perot or Nadar had received votes, it might have been enough to keep the leader from getting the majority.
If more states move to proportional elections like Maine and Nebraska allocating by Congressional district, it might be possible to see regional candidates winning a few Electoral Votes. This might make it more likely that the leader doesn't get a majority of the votes cast.
The Constitution is a document trying to anticipate the possibilities, without imposing limits on the states. It was the states that were imposing limits on the federal government, and having the federal government choose the President was designed to be a very rare case.
That's why having the state legislatures stepping in to make the call is a backstop against the federal government controlling the selection of the President.
-PJ
preserve evidence
publicly highlight other shortcomings of the existing voting system - open a gift that keeps on giving between now and february
keep the controversy in the headlines until resolved
prevent the controversy from falling from the public spotlight
provide a citation/springboard/cover for other legislative actions
provide a voting record platform for highlighting liberal PA representative hypocrisy
> ...WS...
WI?
:)
Sounds like “Lock the barn door but the horse is long gone”
Just for the heck of it, let’s assume that they certify the vote for Biden and he is inaugurated on 20 Jan 2021. Then the results of the audit are that PDJT actually won PA. What would be the fallout? I think that it then gives PDJT a bully pulpit so large that no one could deny his allegations that the election was stolen and that Biden is “illegitimate” and guarantee his landslide victory in 2024.
I am not conceding the election, I’m just looking at the possibilities.
Sorry.. fingers misfired.
Having them dragged out of bed into the night by a pack of hyenas and then find their half eaten bodies the next day works for me, like that hyena thread.
“Why bother? Here is what I think the rationale is...]
The beauty of an audit is that it tracks findings and compiles them in real time and reports them periodically in the form of status updates to the client, (in this case the house of representatives), if they are uncovering massive fraudulent votes, the house simply does not seat their electors.
It’s not that that take them from either candidate, they remove the electors from the equation altogeher, as the Constitution allows.
So what, neither candidate has 270 electors, no automatic victor!
Then what?
Nancy Pelosi lifts up her great big gavel and the Constitution guides her by the nose-ring to re-electing Donald J. Trump 28-22 by a House vote.
Alexander Hamilton! My name is Alexander Hamilton. (The Founder, not the black rap show on Broadway, that existed pre-Covid).
It will be the MOST beautiful win you will ever see in your life.
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