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State Rep. Margo Davidson |
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Davidson: 14 hearings were
pretense for voter suppression laws
State Government
Committee Republican members continue false claims, show contempt for Pa.’s
local election officials
HARRISBURG,
April 15 – After having been denied the right to speak in committee on
numerous occasions, House State Government Committee Democratic Chair Margo
Davidson, D-Delaware, issued the following statement in advance of the final of
14 public hearings being conducted on the settled 2020 election.
“These
14 public hearings staged by the Republican majority over the past three months
and at huge taxpayer expense were not at all a ‘deep dive into our election
laws of 1937’ but, in fact, were a deep mockery of the hardworking election
officials who dutifully carried out our 2020 election,” Davidson said.
“Hearing
after hearing, Republicans on this committee, aided and abetted by their
chairman, repeatedly engaged in questions and false anecdotes that mirrored the
poisonous rhetoric that led to the deadly insurrection at our nation’s capital.
Despite knowing what precipitated January’s deadly rampage, Republicans on the
committee insisted on spewing the same lies and rhetoric, even as testifiers
from some of Pennsylvania’s reddest counties and experts from some of the reddest
states strongly pushed back.
“The
most striking testimony for me, but largely ignored by my GOP colleagues, came
from cybersecurity experts Dr. Clifford Neuman,
director of the University of Southern California Center for Computer Security
Systems, and Dr. William Adler, senior technologist for the Center for
Democracy and Technology. Dr. Neuman warned that
interference in elections largely comes from false narrative on the internet,
narrative that did unbridled harm in 2020. He said local officials play a key
part in dispelling dangerous false claims but also can do the most damage in
fanning the flames, as my colleagues did, ultimately leading to the violence we
have seen. Dr. Adler agreed that local officials have a ‘really important role
to play’ in fighting against disinformation about how people vote.
“Two
completely partisan individuals were invited to testify, one particularly
egregious, making false claims under oath. I needed to
remind him of his oath as he continued to present a partisan opinion paper
masquerading as real research making wild unsubstantiated and even ridiculous
claims about the 2020 election. These extremists were encouraged by my
Republican colleagues, even in the face of knowing that the 2020 election has
been studied and scrutinized by multiple cross-partisan entities performing
rigorous audits and examinations -- all coming to the same conclusion: that the
election was free and fair, and the results are accurate.
“Most
disheartening to me is how my Republican colleagues seemed to ignore over 42
hours of testimony that repeatedly outlined the need for precanvassing
of ballots in Pennsylvania. None of the 24-plus bills being introduced by
Republican lawmakers address precanvassing, extra
resources for election workers or expanded timelines to assist with carrying
out elections – the predominant requests in these hearings. Their bills focus
on what no one other than the two hyper-partisan extremists they brought in to
testify suggested – voter suppression.
“At
the outset of these hearings I had hoped that the Republican majority would not
push lies to justify bills that would disenfranchise voters. I hoped that the
committee would move beyond the settled 2020 election and look toward passing
legislation to help counties avoid extreme pressure on our next election day
while ensuring voters’ ballot access and rights. But at the conclusion of them,
I see now that the Republican majority fully intends to focus on voter
suppression. We must continually fight against it.”
Barbara
Grill
Regional Communications Director, SE/Phila.
House Democratic Communications (LCO)
717-772-5564 (Desk)
717-648-0726 (Mobile)