Pennsylvania state Representative Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg) is asking the state General Assembly to support legislation she is drafting to require periodical audits of the commonwealth’s election registry.
The representative observed that an investigation by Democratic Auditor General Eugene DePasquale that concluded in December 2019 discovered numerous problems with the accuracy of Pennsylvania’s voter records. DePasquale’s report determined, for example, that 24,408 registrations with the same driver’s license number appeared on other registrations. It also found that 2,991 active voter records contained information matching that displayed on Department of Health death notices.
Keefer’s upcoming bill would require the registration-records system to undergo a performance audit at least once every four years. If passed, the legislation would take effect in 2024.
“As I examined the control concerns in the Auditor General’s Audit of the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) system completed in 2019 by then Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale, it became apparent that certain controls were lacking in the system of internal and external controls on voting which helped create confusion in the election reporting,” Keefer wrote in a memorandum describing her measure. “Auditor General DePasquale’s 2019 Performance Audit Report on the SURE identified numerous downfalls by the Department of State which then lead to several more inconsistencies among the counties in the Commonwealth.”
She noted that the legislation will specify that the audit must be performed according to the Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards as set forth by the U.S. Comptroller General.
Keefer, who chairs the newly formed Pennsylvania House Freedom Caucus, won’t have an easy road toward passing her bill; Democrats, who hold a narrow majority in the state House, have consistently resisted efforts to enhance the election registry clean-up process despite their fellow Democrat DePasquale having criticized it. And even if the measure somehow passes, it would still need Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro’s signature to become law.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dawn Keefer” by PA State Rep. Dawn Keefer. Background Photo “Election Day” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
