Pennsylvania House of Representatives November 27,2020 Memorandum: A Resolution Declaring the results of statewide electoral contests in the 2020 General Election to be in dispute

Pennsylvania House of Representatives ^ | 11/27/2020 | Pennsylvania House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

[SeekAndFind]

MEMORANDUM

Posted: November 27, 2020 12:50 PM

From: Representative Russ Diamond and Rep. Eric R. Nelson, Rep. Paul Schemel, Rep. Greg Rothman, Rep. Francis X. Ryan, Rep. Dawn W. Keefer, Rep. Mike Jones, Rep. David H. Rowe, Rep. Michael J. Puskaric, Rep. Barbara Gleim, Rep. Bud Cook, Rep. Cris Dush, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, Rep. David H. Zimmerman, Rep. Daryl D. Metcalfe, Rep. David M. Maloney, Sr., Rep. Dan Moul, Rep. Brad Roae, Rep. Kathy L. Rapp, Rep. Jim Cox, Rep. Rob W. Kauffman

To: All House members

Subject: RESOLUTION Disputing the 2020 General Election Statewide Contest Results

In the immediate future, we will be introducing the following resolution:

**********

A RESOLUTION

Declaring the results of statewide electoral contests in the 2020 General Election to be in dispute.

WHEREAS, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution empowers state legislatures, including the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to prescribe the “Times, Places, and Manner” of conducting elections; and

WHEREAS, Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution empowers state legislatures, including the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to direct the manner of appointing electors for President and Vice President of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has exercised its authority to establish election administration procedures for the Commonwealth, known as the Pennsylvania Election Code; and

WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code requires all mail-in ballots to be received by eight o’clock P.M. on the day of the election; and

WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code requires election officials at polling places to authenticate the signatures of in-person voters; and

WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code requires that county boards of elections shall not meet to conduct a pre-canvass of all absentee and mail-in ballots until seven o’clock A.M. on Election Day, during which time defects on mail-in ballots would be identified; and

WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code prohibits the counting of defective absentee or mail-in ballots; and

WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Election Code authorizes “watchers,” selected by candidates and political parties, to observe the process of canvassing absentee and mail-in ballots; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth conducted an election on November 3, 2020 for federal offices, including selecting electors for President and Vice President of the United States; and

WHEREAS, officials in the Executive and Judicial Branches of the Commonwealth infringed upon the General Assembly’s authority under the United States Constitution by unlawfully changing the rules governing the November 3, 2020 election in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, on September 17, 2020, less than seven weeks before the November 3, 2020 election, the partisan majority on the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania unlawfully and unilaterally extended the deadline for mail-in ballots to be received, mandated that ballots mailed without a postmark would be presumed to be received timely, and could be accepted without a verified voter signature; and

WHEREAS, on October 23, 2020, less than two weeks before the November 3, 2020 election and upon a petition from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ruled that mail-in ballots need not authenticate signatures for mail-in ballots, thereby treating in-person and mail-in voters dissimilarly and eliminating a critical safeguard against potential election crime; and

WHEREAS, on November 2, 2020, the night before the November 3, 2020 election and prior to the prescribed time for pre-canvassing mail-in ballots, the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth encouraged certain counties to notify party and candidate representatives of mail-in voters whose ballots contained defects; and

WHEREAS, heavily Democrat counties permitted mail-in voters to cure ballot defects while heavily Republican counties followed the law and invalidated defective ballots; and

WHEREAS, in certain counties in the Commonwealth, watchers were not allowed to meaningfully observe the pre-canvassing and canvassing activities relating to absentee and mail-in ballots; and

WHEREAS, in other parts of the Commonwealth, watchers observed irregularities concerning the pre-canvassing and canvassing of absentee and mail-in ballots; and

WHEREAS, postal employees in Pennsylvania have reported anomalies relating to mail-in ballots, including multiple ballots delivered to a single address with unfamiliar addressees, ballots mailed to vacant homes, empty lots, and addresses that did not exist; and

WHEREAS, witnesses testifying before the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee on November 25, 2020 have provided additional compelling information regarding the questionable nature of the administration of the 2020 General Election; and

WHEREAS, there remains ongoing litigation concerning the administration of the November 3, 2020 election in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, in 2016, Pennsylvania’s general election results were certified on December 12, 2016, and on November 24, 2020, the Secretary of the Commonwealth unilaterally and prematurely certified results of the November 3, 2020 election regarding presidential electors despite ongoing litigation; and

WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has the duty to ensure that no citizen of this Commonwealth is disenfranchised, to insist that all elections are conducted according to the law, and to satisfy the general public that every legal vote is counted accurately;

THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives—

1. Recognizes substantial irregularities and improprieties associated with mail-in balloting, pre-canvassing, and canvassing during the November 3, 2020 election; and

2. Disapproves of the infringement on the General Assembly’s authority pursuant to the United States Constitution to regulate elections; and

3. Disapproves of and disagrees with the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s premature certification of the results of the November 3, 2020 election regarding presidential electors; and

4. Declares that the selection of presidential electors and other statewide electoral contest results in this Commonwealth is in dispute; and

5. Urges the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Governor to withdraw or vacate the certification of presidential electors and to delay certification of results in other statewide electoral contests voted on at the 2020 General Election; and

6. Urges the United States Congress to declare the selection of presidential electors in this Commonwealth to be in dispute.

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Please join us in cosponsoring this critical resolution.

[Tejas Rob]

>Also, Rudy has apparently admitted that he mixed up the two numbers.

Where did you see that? Have a link?

[Crucial]

Dipping their toes into the water and waiting to see if we give them any real suport.

[Abbeville Conservative]

I heard it on Bannon’s War Room today.

[deek69]

Is this the Reader’s Digest condensed version?

[SE Mom]

Oy. Thank you! Did he realize the error? I’m assuming they’re not still basing their suit on incorrect numbers.

Each state has its own issues- hard to keep up!

[TexasGator]

This is a resolution with no binding action.

IOW, a statement of non action.

[crz]

A resolution has no force of power.

[Trump Girl Kit Cat]

A resolution has the power to give the legislators back their power from the SOS!!!!

[calenel]

“GOP leads here 26:24”

Well, that’s wrong - there is one split delegation (PA) in the current House, however, it’s the NEW House that matters. The new House has three split delegations, and possibly a 4th if the last IA race goes to the D. So it will be at worst 26:20.

[calenel]

The other two splits, MN and MI, used to be D-controlled, but the Rs flipped a seat in each.

[LeoTDB69]

“A Resolution Declaring the results of statewide electoral contests in the 2020 General Election to be in dispute”

And comically Twitter will no doubt call this Resolution of dispute disputed.

[SeekAndFind]

I direct you to another FReeper in this thread:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3910163/posts?q=1&;page=51 (Post# 67)

Once again, the facts as we know them:

Mail ballots 3 Nov election:

18 Nov: US Elections Project: Pennsylvania Early Voting Statistics
Mail Ballots Returned: 2,629,183
Requested ballots: 3,088,123
https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/PA.html

mail ballots Primaries (which is where the 1.8m figure comes from - 1,823,148 to be exact, according to Rudy at the PA hearing):

Data PA Govt: 2020 Primary Election Mail Ballot Requests Department of State
Government Efficiency & Citizen Engagement
Updated
September 25, 2020
Data Provided by Pennsylvania Department of State
1.82M Mail Ballot Request for 2020 Primary Election
(BOTTOM OF PAGE 1 OF CHART)
Showing Mail Ballot Request for 2020 Primary Elections 1 to 13 out of ***1,823,148
https://data.pa.gov/Government-Efficiency-Citizen-Engagement/2020-Primary-Election-Mail-Ballot-Requests-Departm/853w-ecfz

Apparently Giuliani clarified he was referring to the Primaries when speaking of the 1.8m figure:

When it was suggested on thedonald.win that the thread be pulled down because the info was incorrect, someone replied:

COMMENT: Nope. Not at all. Rudy Giuliani ***clarified the 1.8 Million ballots were sent during the Primaries in August and 1.4 million apparently casting their vote. He further went on to elaborate how the hell 2.5 million (now 2.6 million) got to cast their vote less than 2-3 months later for the Presidential election.

There is further no reason to delete the page containing the 1.4 million cast on the PA Website, unless they got something to hide, with Giuliani having the proof.
Thank the mods indeed with the clarification under it: “The 1,126,940 is essentially people who didn’t participate in the primary, but still voted democrat”

https://thedonald.win/p/11QS32RxxL/those-fuckers-printed-one-millio/c/

[ApplegateRanch]

“More than 78% of Pennsylvania voters who requested a mail-in or absentee ballots have already cast their votes by Election Day eve.

Well, 138% IS more than 78%... .

[Vlad The Inhaler]

1 Vote per State Delegation.
GOP leads here 26:24

Not a sure thing though.

Too many RINOs and lickspittle "Never Trumpers" slithering in the weeds.

.

[trebb]

Piss in your Wheaties much?

[crz]

The only way the PA legislature is to do this is to simply go into session and vote the proper electors in for Trump.

[Lower Deck]

So if I’m reading five and six correctly, all the legislature can do is ‘urge’ the Secretary of State to decertify the election and ‘urge’ the Congress to declare the election in dispute. If the Secretary of State refuses to decertify then there’s nothing they can do. And if the Congress does not approve a dispute of the Pennsylvania electoral votes then there’s nothing they can do either.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sound like you eat them that way.

[Svartalfiar]

#6 combined with similar actions in two other states... pushes the final vote to the House.

1 Vote per State Delegation.
GOP leads here 26:24

There's actually no way the election goes to the House, unless something real complicated happens. To get to a 269-269 tie, we currently need a 37-vote correction. Out of the six main contested States, we have:

- PA: 20
- WI: 10
- MI: 16
- VA: 13
- NV: 6
- GA: 16

So the only way to get a tie (assuming no other State randomly changes their results) is some highly unlikely scenarios:

- WI fails to appoint electors, and MI and GA flip. 264-264
- MI -OR- GA fail to appoint electors, then VA + GA/MI flip to Trump. 261-261
- MI -OR- GA fail to appoint electors, then VA + NV + WI flip Trump. 261-261

It currently looks like PA is the first State to be likely to correct themselves. If that happens, the 20 votes means there's no way for the election to become a tie, so it's either a straight Trump win or Biden win.