HARRISBURG – To continue its legislative investigation into the integrity of recent elections, the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee voted today to issue subpoenas for a variety of different materials from the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Committee Chairman Senator Cris Dush (R-Jefferson) invited Department of State officials to testify at a hearing last week to discuss controversial guidance issued to counties in the final weeks and days leading up to the 2020 General Election. The subpoenas were approved today after the Department refused to participate or answer questions posed by the committee.
The invitation to testify was extended more than a week in advance of the hearing.
“There was no good reason for our invitation to be ignored. We gave the Department of State more time to comply with our request than they gave counties to adjust to their last-second mandates before the 2020 General Election,” Dush said. “Subpoenas were not our first choice of action, but the refusal of the Wolf Administration to work with us in a bipartisan manner left us no other options to get the answers Pennsylvanians deserve.”
The subpoenas will include all guidance issued to counties, as well as all communications between the Department of State and county election officials. All training materials, copies of all guidance and directives to counties are also included.
In addition to subpoenaing information pertaining to the Department’s controversial guidance, the committee also approved subpoenas for key voter data, including lists of all registered voters, voter activity, the method by which voters cast their ballots, and changes in voter registration.
The registration and voter lists will help paint a more complete picture of Pennsylvania’s election system to allow for positive changes to existing law, Dush said.
CONTACT: Jason Thompson