Posted on 05/18/2021 5:53:15 PM PDT by 11th_VA
PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 1 TERMINATION OR EXTENSION OF DISASTER EMERGENCY DECLARATION
Votes: Yes: 34,151 No: 97,197
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PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 2 DISASTER EMERGENCY DECLARATION AND MANAGEMENT
Votes: Yes: 31,578 No: 100,053
——————————————- PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 3 PROHIBITION AGAINST DENIAL OR ABRIDGEMENT OF EQUALITY OF RIGHTS BECAUSE OF RACE OR ETHNICITY
Votes: Yes: 116,757 No: 15,985
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STATEWIDE REFERENDUM-ACT 2020-91
Votes: Yes: 112,225 No: 19,128
(Excerpt) Read more at electionreturns.pa.gov ...
The story behind the first two ballot questions revolve around the COVID-19 pandemic and the way Democratic Governor Tom Wolf handled it. David Thornburgh, president and CEO of the government watchdog group Committee of 70, says, "There were some Republican legislators who were unhappy with what they saw as the governor's executive authority. They thought maybe that was too much and that the power should be shared with the General Assembly."
Those ballot questions, if passed, would amend the state constitution, stripping the governor of the unilateral authority to end a disaster declaration and reduce the duration of a disaster declaration from 90 days to 21 days with legislative approval needed for an extension.
Looks like the Governor won ...
The fourth question would make municipal fire and emergency medical service companies eligible for loans that are already available to volunteer companies.
Correct (non RINO) responses should be YES. YES. NO. NO
Hopefully early returns are from Philtytown.
Regarding the ballot questions: first two limit governors ability to exercise emergency powers without legislature’s approval. Third one is an “equality of rights” amendment. Last one allows municipal police/fire to tap a loan program intended for volunteer fire departments.
I voted yes to first two, no for last two.
Sounds like the third one is to prevent discrimination against white folks
Votes: Yes: 111,621 No: 144,083
So the lead has been cut
I think (from what I’ve seen) the earliest numbers were absentee votes. I would expect those to favor the dictatorial power of the governor since they’re more likely to be people who still are too afraid to leave their house to go vote. Those voting in person today are more likely to vote yes on limiting emergency power (at least I hope so)
Trailing (but gaining) 45.54% to 54.46%
Votes: Yes: 143,746 No: 171,879
The Dem sample ballot said to vote yes on the third question, so no I don’t think that white people will benefit.
Amendments 1 and 2 were defeated in the in-person voting in our precinct, but the margin wasn’t huge. Our precinct is heavily Dem. I don’t know how the mail-in vote looked. I don’t have access to that, but I saw the machine tape at the end of voting this evening. The wording confused a lot of people.
47.06% to 52.94%
Votes: Yes: 331,360 No: 372,729
49.55% to 50.45%
Votes: Yes: 413,903 No: 421,454
50.45% to 49.55%
Votes: Yes: 501,097 No: 492,169
Questions 1 and 2 are in response to the Governor's handling of the pandemic, and moreso the State Supreme Court's interpretation of the laws allowing the Governor to handle the pandemic as he has been. The Governor was granted authority to declare (and extend) an emergency order by a 1970's law that also had a clause in it giving the legislature the ability to override the governor's declaration by a majority vote without signature by the governor.
It's plainly obvious from the reading of the text that the legislative override was intended to be a failsafe to have the legislature be a check on the powers of a governor who is abusing his or her powers. The governor took the case to the court and the legislature argued that if the part about the failsafe is invalid, so is the authority to declare an emergency, since it's also part of the law.
The state supreme court (which is almost half personally appointed by Gov. Wolf and overwhelmingly democrat) decided the part of the law that gave the Governor power was valid, but the part that limited the power wasn't and effectively excised that part from the emergency powers law. You can make a legitimate argument for or against that being fair, or constitutional, but the first two ballot questions aim to remedy that problem.
Opponents of the ballot questions are casting it as a petty personal vendetta against the governor, and the same machine that got stay-at-home workers scared of the Rona to vote for Biden because Orange Man Bad are voting no.
It’s just going to be “corrected” to what the dems want anyway.
52.30% to 47.70%
Votes: Yes: 790,626 No: 721,177
There's no percentages listed, but a lot of the early "no" votes came from counting mail in ballots (the divide between in person and mail in ballot voting is rather disturbing). That said, there are certainly plenty of mail in ballots out there. Last time I checked, Chester county has counted zero mail in ballots. Chester has many suburban voters who would probably fall into the "no" category because they've been comfortable working from home for the last year and the dems have succeeded in turning a once red area into a bluer bastion. If "yes" passes, it will be narrowly, and there's no guarantee that if it does pass that the supreme court won't decide to just throw the results out anyway purely out of spite.
Both Q1 & Q2 now lead by 100K+ votes ...
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