Thread by @justin_sweitzer

News: A Pennsylvania state Senate committee is considering issuing subpoenas to the PA Department of State for a wide range of voter information for the purposes of a Republican-led review of the 2020 and 2021 elections.

You can stream the hearing here: pasen.gov/Video/8e.cfm?r…

The subpoenas, if approved, ask the Department of State to provide information including the name, date of birth, driver's license number, last four digits of SSN, address, and date of last voting activity for all voters in the state, among other information.

Sen. Cris Dush, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Operations Committee (which is leading the election review) confirms that his office is considering hiring an outside vendor to help conduct the review. Dush won't reveal the vendors he is considering.

Democratic state Sen. Steve Santarsiero has concerns: "How can we vote on whether we should issue these subpoenas if we don't know, ultimately, what's going to happen to this information and who's going to have access to it?"

Santarsiero says voters should known what is being done with the records being sought by the committee. "We have a duty to those people, many of whom voted in last November's election, to know exactly where their information is going and who's going to have access to it."

Jake Corman, the president pro tempore of the state Senate, contests Democratic claims that the review is designed to relitigate the election. Corman says the legislature has no authority to overturn an election.

"All we're doing is seeking facts, seeking information, so that we can make better public policy," Corman says.

"Credibility is important for all of us," Corman said. "And, obviously, this investigation – which gets a lot of attention – will be judged by its results. And what is most important to me is the credibility of it."

Santarsiero asks Dush to confirm that vendors chosen for the investigation won't have any connections to any of candidates who ran in 2020, particularly the presidential candidates.

Dush says: "That would be a very difficult task."

Dush just temporarily halted the hearing after Sen. Vincent Hughes brought up the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Dush once again halts the meeting after Hughes mentions that a member of the Senate (Sen. Doug Mastriano) was present in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6.

We're back. Hughes calls the election investigation a "fishing expedition."

"We don't need any voter's name, address, driver's license number, or social security number to draft legislation on any subject," he adds.

Dush now "suspends" Hughes from making any additional public comments. Hughes is irate and Dush halts the meeting again.

"We are extremely disappointed that the nature of our comments and the length of our comments are being cut off by you," Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa says to Dush. "We're at a crossroads here in terms of who we are and what we're going to do as a commonwealth."

Costa raises concerns about Democrats not being involved in the selection of a vendor to help conduct the review. "None of that vetting process is being done in a bipartisan way, it's strictly being done by you and your small team that you've indicated," Costa says.

Costa makes a motion to table the subpoena vote. The motion fails.

"Despite how it has been labeled ... all signs indicate that is an election contest, something that this committee simply has no jurisdiction over or no ability to do," Costa adds.

Costa once again argues that the Intergovernmental Operations Committee lacks the authority to review elections. "For generations and decades and decades and decades, the State Government Committee had jurisdiction over election matters, not this committee."

Corman disagrees with Costa's argument. "We as a Senate determine jurisdiction," Corman says. "Clearly in our governmental affairs, elections are held by both local and state government."

Corman says the Senate will handle voter information in a secure manner. "The Senate will do its job. We will gather sensitive information, we will review sensitive information, and then we will secure that information. That is my pledge. That is something that is paramount."

State Sen. Judy Ward is speaking now. She mentions that the Department of Health experienced a data breach with personal health information.

"My constituents, I say this all the time, have been outraged. Their questions have gone on answered. They want us to look at the process. It is paramount to our democratic process. We must restore their trust and the trust of all Pennsylvanians," Ward says.

Costa says the committee should outline sanctions in the event that personal voter data is misused or a data breach occurs. "We have an obligation to protect this vital information ... and we need to make certain that those sanctions are significant," Costa says.

Dush confirms that the election review will be paid for using taxpayer dollars. He says the committee is currently receiving estimates for certain aspects of the investigation.

Anthony Williams, the Democratic chair of the committee, says Democrats should be involved with the vetting process in terms of the selection of vendors.

News: As part of a review into Pennsylvania's 2020 election, a Republican-led panel has voted to subpoena the PA Department of State for a wide range of voter records, including name, DOB, DL number, last four digits of SSN, address, and date of their last voting activity.

Gov. Tom Wolf immediately criticized the vote, calling it "another step to undermine democracy, confidence in our elections and to capitulate to Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 election."

"This charade has to stop," he said in a statement.

Senate Democrats are now following up with a press conference to address the events of the hearing.

"Our Republican colleagues jammed through subpoenas, which asked for a significant amount of information," Costa says. "And let's be clear, these subpoenas, authorized by the Senate Republicans, are an overreach, in our view, a violation of separation of powers."

News: Pa. Senate Democrats announce that they will file a legal challenge to subpoenas just approved as part of a Republican-led review of the state's election results.

"Senate Democrats, going forward, intend to take legal action against this gross abuse of power," Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa says.

"We must not sacrifice the most fundamental principles of our democracy – for fair and free and equal and secure elections – so that some may pursue partisan and political gain by perpetrating the big lie that this election was stolen," Costa says.

Santarsiero says Dems haven't been involved in the selecting a vendor to conduct the review. "The committee just voted along partisan lines to issue subpoenas, the breadth of which are unprecedented," he says. "And who's going to get that information? We're not really sure."

Costa says Democrats will likely be filing their legal challenge on Friday. He says the challenge will be made in Commonwealth Court.

"We believe it's an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars to protect the voter information" that was subpoenaed, Costa says.