Statement From LWVPA On PA House State Government Committee's Plans To Hold Hearings On 2020 Election

On November 10, the newly appointed interim chair of the House State Government Committee, Rep. Seth Grove, announced plans to hold committee hearings on the 2020 election process.

Rep. Grove's statement on the hearings reads: "Regardless of outcomes it is incumbent upon the Legislature to ensure that Pennsylvania has free, fair and secure elections. Over the course of the past several weeks, Pennsylvania's elections experienced a process failure because of undue and ill-conceived interference in our elections by the Pennsylvania Department of State and five Democrat justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. We need to investigate what transpired so we can develop a comprehensive legislative fix to ensure that the people of Pennsylvania can have faith in their future elections. That review must happen now, while all the evidence remains before us and the events leading up to our General Election are fresh in the minds of all participants."

While the League of Women Voters agrees that a comprehensive legislative fix is sorely needed, we disagree strongly with Grove's statement that ''Pennsylvania's elections experienced a process failure because of undue and ill-conceived interference in our elections by the Pennsylvania Department of State and five Democrat justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court."

His statement suggests foregone conclusions and undermines any hope of a fair review. Far more appropriate would be a review by the bipartisan PA Election Law Advisory Board established by Act 12 in 2020.

The League of Women Voters underscores that any legislative "fix" must be done with full bipartisan support, implementing electoral best practice without attempting to influence electoral outcomes, present or future, on behalf of a particular party or candidate.