After months of Democrats and establishment media claiming that all was well in the 2020 election (and anyone who says different is a conspiracy kook), the Pennsylvania state House has approved an election reform bill. The bill — known as the Voting Rights Protection Act — seeks to restore election integrity.
The Voting Rights Protection Act would require that voters present identification, and makes changes to state law relating to polls, audits, and procedures. It passed in the House by a vote of 110-91 — with nearly every Democrat voting against it. To make it to the governor’s desk, the bill would still need to pass in the state Senate. That seems an easy hurdle, given the partisan lines along which the bill passed in the House; The Senate has a 28-22 Republican majority. But even then, Democrat Governor Tom Wolf has repeatedly said he would veto any such bill. In fact, when the bill passed in the House, Wolf tweeted, “I will veto this bill if it reaches my desk in its current form.” In that same tweet, Wolf trotted out Democrats current favorite beast of burden: The January 6 “insurrection” — blaming the “lawmakers behind this bill” for the imaginary attempted destruction of America.
So, what is it about the Voting Rights Protection Act “current form” that Wolf finds so repugnant?
The bill — full text here — seeks to reform the election process and restore integrity to that process by providing in the law clear language that defines the process for voting, the process for early voting, identification of those voting (to ascertain that they are on the rolls), a clear process for election audits, and clear penalties for violations of election laws by voters, election officials, or government officials.
Perhaps the portions of the bill “in its current form” that bother Wolf and his comrades are requirement for voter identification and providing criminal penalties for:
disobeying lawful instructions, for perjury, for false affidavits of candidates, for refusal to permit inspection of papers, destruction or removal and Secretary of the Commonwealth, for refusal to permit inspection of papers, destruction or removal and county boards of elections, for insertion and alteration of entries in documents, removal and refusal to deliver, for refusal to permit overseers, watchers, attorneys or candidates to act, for driving away watchers, attorneys, candidates or overseers, for refusal to permit election officers, clerks and machine inspectors to act and driving away said persons, for refusal to administer oath and acting without being sworn, for violation of oath of office by election officers, for peace officers, failure to render assistance and hindering or delaying county board members and others, for nomination petitions and papers and offenses by signers, for false signatures and statements in nomination petitions and papers, for nomination petitions, certificates and papers, destruction, fraudulent filing and suppression, for offenses by printers of ballots, for unlawful possession of ballots and counterfeiting ballots, for forging and destroying ballots, for tampering with voting machines, for destroying, defacing or removing notices…
But one is left to ask, “What about that would bother anyone who wants honest elections?” After all, if the 2020 election — which has been questioned since it was still taking place — was above board, as claimed by Democrats, what is the problem?
But that, of course, is the rub. As Representative Ann Flood — one of the sponsors of the bill — said, “We want to ensure elections are fair and the outcomes reflect the will of the people who legally cast their ballots.” She went on to say, “This has been one of the top issues for people I’ve talked with in our district since I took office back in January.”
Republican House Speaker Bryan Cutler said the bill would restore voter confidence in the election system. He also said that the bill’s provisions addressing audits would be a step “toward ensuring the public’s trust.”
And Republican Representative Craig Staats said he has heard from county election officials who told him, “The system does not work.” He said, “They need help, and the Voting Rights Protection Act would provide that help.”
Given the doubt that millions of Americans have in the process of the 2020 election, it would seem that there would be no reason for Democrats to object to a bill that promises to restore the trust of those millions of voters. It would seem that if Democrats were telling the truth and the election was all above board (a stretch, this writer realizes), there would be nothing to fear from this bill. The only reason for such opposition to this bill “in its current form” would be if there was something to claims of election fraud and manipulation.
The real question, then, should be, “How are Wolf and his comrades able to keep a straight face and pretend anything remotely related to integrity while opposing a bill that would ensure that future elections are above reproach?” Because if this bill had been law before the 2020 election, there would only be two possible outcomes: Either President Donald Trump would have carried Pennsylvania, or there would be no question that the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue won those electoral votes fair and square.
