Department of State of the Commonwealth explains that "[t]he
Secretary is Pennsylvania's Chief Election Official"; and
WHEREAS, The Department of State has provided guidance
documents for distribution to the county boards of elections,
including guidance that naked ballots, without the secrecy
envelope, should be counted and that absentee or mail-in ballots
could not be set aside based solely on signature analysis; and
WHEREAS, In light of longstanding Pennsylvania law and as
recognized in the majority and concurring opinions of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania Democratic Party
v. Boockvar, the guidance documents provided by the Department
of State include clearly erroneous information; and
WHEREAS, The guidance documents and other communications from
the Department of State have apparently resulted in confusion
among county officials; and
WHEREAS, A recent media report noted that more than a dozen
counties have experienced the loss of election directors or
deputy directors in the last year; and
WHEREAS, The same media report quoted a county election
official saying that the Department of State, "keeps changing
everything so we have to keep throwing stuff away"; and
WHEREAS, Recent actions by the Department of State call into
question whether the Commonwealth's administration of election
laws should be assigned to a different entity; and
WHEREAS, It is imperative that the General Assembly, on
behalf of the people of this Commonwealth, have access to a
comprehensive investigation and review of the regulation and
conduct of the 2020 general election, as well as events leading
up to the 2020 general election, in order to determine the need
to enact legislation before or after the 2020 general election;
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