Pa. GOP Reps. sound off on voting, election reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Following Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s veto of a Republican-led voting and election reform bill Wednesday, we wanted to see what some of Pennsylvania’s members of Congress think will keep elections safe and fair, both in the commonwealth and nationwide.

In January, eight of Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Representatives challenged the 2020 election results. U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) was among the leaders of the effort, alleging nearly 2.6 million mail-in ballots were invalid, citing the state’s 2019 election reform law known as Act 77. A lawsuit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which failed to issue an emergency injunction shortly after the November 3rd election. The high court later refused to hear the full case in February.

Now, Kelly says the state could have benefitted from the latest Republican-led reform that Wolf vetoed on Wednesday.

“Act 77, while well-intended, was really abused by the executive office in Pennsylvania,” Kelly said. “Things that happened after November the 3rd, and continued through the 4th, the 5th, the 6th,” he added, referring to the three days after the election Wolf permitted mail-in ballots to be collected.

Since January 6, following the riots by supporters at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump on the day of the Electoral College vote count, Republican-led state legislatures and Congressional Democrats both have raced to pass election reform. Republican attempts cite unfounded claims of voter fraud to loopholes in the system they are seeking to close, while Democrats argue they are attempting to prevent “racist” and restrictive voting reform efforts.

Democrats have heavily criticized the Pennsylvania bill, which they argue would have restricted voter access. Among the changes: requiring voters to show ID each time they vote and signature checks for mail-in ballots.

U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) would like to see that at both the state and federal level.

“They really have a nice, comprehensive bill,” Thompson said. “It does require a voter ID. I’m starting to see some blue states, some Democratic states that are embracing that.”

Voter ID is also embraced by an overwhelming 81 percent of Americans, according to a Monmouth poll released earlier this month.

U.S. Rep. Fred Keller (R-Pa.), who has also served in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, says moving forward he wants states to have greater influence in their own elections. He was among the Republicans who opposed the U.S. House version of a sweeping federal reform like the bill that failed in the U.S. Senate last week.

“Voter ID, I think, is really a cornerstone of what we need to do,” Keller said. “I think that would give everybody the confidence in the election that the state is running things the way it should.”