Tag: Pennsylvania Department of State

Pennsylvania County Received Juicy Election Grant Before Fumbling Election Administration

Daily Caller News Foundation

Bucks County, Pennsylvania, received nearly $5 million from the state for election integrity since 2023, but the county was successfully sued for violating election law as voters were turned away after waiting for hours in long lines during the 2024 election cycle.

Democrat Bucks County Commissioner Robert Harvie blamed the long lines — which were the subject of successful litigation from the campaigns of President-elect Donald Trump and Senator-elect Dave McCormick — on budget restraints, despite Bucks County’s receipt of about $4.98 million from a Pennsylvania state program designed to shore up election administration and integrity. Bucks County is again in the news after Harvie and fellow Democrat Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia moved Thursday to count deficient ballots as defeated Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey holds out hope that he can win his race after a recount.

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Battleground States Absent Hurdles to Place Harris on Ballot

The Center Square
Kamala Harris

Election laws in all seven battleground states will allow Democrats to place onto ballots the name of Vice President Kamala Harris, or another candidate if one materializes.

As President Joe Biden’s supporters rally around Harris to take his spot as the party nominee, Republicans are planning legal challenges. Biden announced his decision via social media Sunday afternoon, with one month until the Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

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Voter Data-Sharing System Issues Dominate Schmidt’s Pennsylvania Senate Confirmation Hearing

Bradley Vasoli

At Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt’s initial confirmation hearing on Wednesday, many senators inquired about the commonwealth’s participation in a controversial voter data-sharing program. 

Schmidt, a moderate Republican former Philadelphia city commissioner who subsequently was president of the left-leaning nonprofit Committee of Seventy, will sit for a second hearing covering non-electoral issues his department oversees (e.g., professional licensure). But Senate State Government Committee Chair Cris Dush (R-Bellefonte) suggested discussion of Pennsylvania’s participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) will come up then as well. 

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Conway Urges Pennsylvania Republicans to Play by ‘New Rules’ on Absentee Voting

Bradley Vasoli

Camp Hill, PA — Kellyanne Conway, a nationally renowned pollster and senior counselor in the Trump White House, called upon movement conservatives in Pennsylvania on Friday to adjust to mass absentee voting if they want to win tough elections.

“My theme tonight is about winning, not whining,” she told attendees of the annual Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC) at the Penn Harris Hotel just across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg. 

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Presses Officials to Withdraw from Multi-State Voting Data-Sharing System

Bradley Vasoli

During discussions with Pennsylvania’s top election officials this week, state Senator Cris Dush (R-Bellefonte) urged the commonwealth to leave the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an election data-sharing system. 

Over the last 14 months, five states have nixed their participation in ERIC. This month, both Iowa and Ohio indicated they will also do so. Some Republican-led states in the partnership wanted greater autonomy regarding use of the data collected by the organization; these participants also desired an end to a stipulation in ERIC’s bylaws instructing states to contact unregistered voters to remind them to vote. In a recent meeting, the nonprofit’s board rejected the suggested changes. 

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Pennsylvania Punishes County That Allowed Audit of Vote Counting Machines

Admin

The Pennsylvania Department of State decertified Fulton County’s voting machines on Wednesday after officials there participated in a third-party audit.

The voluntary probe came at the request of Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) who’s currently spearheading a larger effort to audit machines in Tioga, York and Philadelphia counties amid his ongoing campaign to ferret out fraudulent activity during the past two elections.

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