Pa. Secretary of State Boockvar implores state lawmakers to 'stop the lies' about the election - TribLIVE

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Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar implored lawmakers in Harrisburg to “stop perpetuating lies” about the Nov. 3 election as members of a House Committee relentlessly grilled her Thursday in what they billed as the first of 14 hearings on the matter.

Although President Joe Biden’s victory of more than 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania has held up in multiple court challenges, members of the Republican-controlled General Assembly continue to question the integrity of the election — one in which many of them won election.

Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, chair of the House State Government Committee, vowed to continue a “deep dive” into those questions.

Pennsylvania has been a standard-bearer for election integrity, said Boockvar, an election lawyer.

She warned that continued attacks and disinformation about the election helped fuel the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by an angry mob.

“It’s time for unity, and it’s time for truth,” she said. “The ongoing assault on facts and our democratic process that we have witnessed for months must end. It’s anti-American, dangerous, and goes against everything we stand for as a country.

“The attack on our Capitol was the direct result of disinformation and lies — lies that were intentionally spread to subvert the free and fair election and undermine people’s faith in our democracy,” Boockvar continued, chastising lawmakers — some of whom implored Congress to set aside Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes.

Guidance and 45th District issues

Thursday’s hearing, which lasted more than two hours, focused on guidance Boockvar issued to county election officials as they sorted through questions during the first election held under Act 77. The massive overhaul of the state election code easily passed in 2019 with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Boockvar said guidance she issued on mail-in ballots was consistent across the state. But since it was only guidance instead of directives backed by law, county election officials had discretion on how to interpret it.

State Rep. Dawn Keefer, R-York and Cumberland counties, said discretion and differences in how two counties interpreted what they could or could not count led to a lengthy legal dispute: Allegheny and Westmoreland counties took different stands on how to count mail-in ballots that arrived in envelopes that voters failed to date.

Westmoreland did not count such ballots, while Allegheny officials did. The difference became a factor in the state 45th Senatorial District race. The district spans both counties.

Ultimately, incumbent Sen. Jim Brewster was declared the victor by 69 votes, even though officials conceded that his Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli would have won by 93 votes had Allegheny not counted the 311 undated mail-in ballots in that race. A federal judge this month ruled that the ballots were valid.

“Here’s where the rubber meets the road,” Keefer said. “The lack of uniformity made a difference.”

Boockvar said her guidance recommended that ballot envelopes be signed and dated in order to be counted.

“But unless we have statutory authority, we cannot put out directives,” she said.

Likewise, she said the state’s authority is limited to guidance when it comes to instructing counties on how far they could go to notify voters of flaws in mail-in ballots and offer opportunities to fix, or “cure,” those flaws.

“I would love to have the authority to tell all counties how to be uniform in curing ballots,” Boockvar said. “I would urge the Legislature to pass such laws and would work with them on it.”

Lawmakers also pointed to some 10,000-plus ballots that remain segregated because they came in after 8 p.m. Nov. 3 but before 5 p.m. three days later, as allowed after a state Supreme Court decision. A federal court put that count on hold.

So, while votes on those ballots for state lawmakers and row officers were counted, the presidential and congressional votes on them have yet to be tallied, pending a federal court ruling.

“The main point I want to make about that,” Boockvar said, “is none of those outcomes would be changed because of the small number of votes.”

Nelson raises concerns

While Thursday’s hearing was limited to issues on election guidance, state Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, wanted to address other issues.

Nelson said he is concerned that third-party nonprofits were permitted to offer counties election grants. He cited millions of dollars that the Center for Tech and Civic Life poured into the state’s elections.

Boockvar defended the grants, saying they filled gaps left by the state and federal governments failing to fully fund elections. She said every county had an opportunity to apply for such grants. Many did, she added.

Nelson insisted it set a disturbing precedent.

“There were strings attached to them,” Nelson said. He said that Philadelphia, which had only 190 polling places open in the primary, was required to have 800 polling places open in the general election to qualify for a $10 million grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg underwrote.

He said the practice set the stage for a situation where a Second Amendment group could offer conservative Westmoreland County $1 million for an election grant and add all kinds of strings.

Boockvar dismissed Nelson’s complaints.

She said Philadelphia typically fields about 800 polling places and only reduced that number in the primary because of pandemic concerns.

“You set the rules on how elections are funded, and they are underfunded,” she said.

Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 724-850-1209, derdley@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Election | News | Pennsylvania | Top Stories | Westmoreland

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Pa. Secretary of State Boockvar implores state lawmakers to 'stop the lies' about the election - TribLIVE

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