HARRISBURG — Nearly three dozen Republican state lawmakers are asking Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to use his constitutional authority to call the General Assembly back into immediate session to address their concerns about the 2020 presidential election.
In a letter dated Wednesday, the group of conservative GOP lawmakers led by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, listed 15 questions they say need to be answered ”to help restore our citizens’ faith in the electoral process.” Among them are issues related to ballot dropboxes, ballot handling, voting machines and more.
In a word, the response from the governor’s office is no.
“The facts are clear: Pennsylvania had a secure election,” said Mr. Wolf’s spokeswoman Lyndsay Kensinger. “Pennsylvanians voted, state and federal judges have rejected the reckless accusations, the U.S. Attorney General has found claims of widespread fraud baseless, and the representatives must move forward. Spreading lies and misinformation is irresponsible. Pennsylvanians deserve better from their elected officials.”
Pennsylvania’s Department of State certified Pennsylvania’s election results on Nov. 24, declaring Joe Biden the winner in the presidential race. The final tally shows Mr. Biden winning Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes, or a little over 1 percentage point, over President Donald Trump.
The 2019-20 legislative session ended on Monday. Lawmakers are not scheduled to go into session until Jan. 5 when members are sworn in for the next two-year session.
The lawmakers point out in the letter sections of the state constitution allowing the governor to “on extraordinary occasions, convene the General Assembly” and that allow for him to call a special session “whenever in his opinion public interest requires.”
“This election clearly represents an extraordinary occasion, and the public interest requires that you convene the General Assembly immediately,” the letter states.
No Republican legislative leader signed on to the letter.
The lawmakers say in their letter the General Assembly needs to convene to provide oversight of the election and address some of the claims made at last week’s Senate Majority Policy Committee meeting by Mr. Trump’s legal team along with a few other issues. They also point out they have a fresh allegation from a truck driver working for a U.S. Postal Service subcontractor who says he transported well over 100,000 completed absentee ballots from Bethpage, N.Y., to Harrisburg.
First Published: December 3, 2020, 12:24 a.m.
Updated: December 3, 2020, 9:32 a.m.
