HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state lawmaker is launching a “forensic investigation” of the state’s 2020 presidential election, demanding cooperation from counties and mimicking a similar effort in Arizona.
Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, issued letters to three counties Wednesday, giving officials there a sweeping information request, with the threat of subpoenas for holdouts who do not respond affirmatively by July’s end.
The massive undertaking could cost millions of dollars and faces questions, such as who will do the work, how will it be funded and where such a vast amount of documents and equipment would be stored.
In an interview streamed online by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Mastriano suggested the undertaking will be similar to that in Arizona, where the investigation is searching for evidence of election fraud.
“As we go through the ballots, my desire is to recount them, but also forensically analyze with photographic material whether the ballots were copied or filled in by a human,” Mastriano told Bannon, saying he planned to study what type of paper was used, look for what he called software “shenanigans” and review the chain of custody for the ballots.
Mastriano is also asking for information from May’s primary election.
The Associated Press reported Friday that Mastriano has solicited legal advice from a Philadelphia-based law firm about the Senate Republican caucus using private money to finance consultants and lawyers on the undertaking.
Two Republican-controlled counties — Tioga and York counties — confirmed receiving letters Wednesday, as did the Democratic bastion of Philadelphia, the state’s largest city.
Top Senate Democrats quickly objected, saying they have “grave concerns about the authority and legality of such an audit,” and in a letter asked the Senate’s Republican majority leaders to “end this misguided and political farce immediately.”
Senate Republican majority leaders have been silent about it.
Shapiro and the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, both discouraged counties from cooperating, saying they risk decertifying their voting machines and costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Both also suggested they would fight subpoenas in court.
Mastriano, who has spoken of his desire to bring an Arizona-style audit to Pennsylvania, said he may make demands of more counties in the future.
In his letter Wednesday, Mastriano asks counties to respond by July 31 with a plan to comply and to propose a timeline “regarding inspection, testing or sampling of items.”
The sweeping, five-page information request lists 45 categories, with some similarities to the subpoena issued to Maricopa County in January by Arizona’s Senate Republicans.
It includes all ballots attempted to have been cast in the November election, logs from all computers and servers used to run the election, timelines of who accessed election equipment and “a complete end-to-end election setup for use in a laboratory.”
Mastriano also warned that the committee he chairs, the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, could vote to issue a subpoena if a county does not adhere to his request.
Anticipating pushback from Philadelphia, Mastriano told Bannon, “The only reason why anyone should be opposed to this is they have something to hide.”
Tioga County Commissioner Roger C. Bunn, a Republican, said he planned to talk to the board’s lawyer and the elections director before he and the other two commissioners respond.
“I certainly want our elections to be fair and honest,” Bunn said. “So we’ll see what they’re requesting and what we can do.”
Mastriano does not suggest in the letter that his aim is to overturn Biden’s victory, but rather to restore trust in elections and “adequately consider future legislation” on election law.
As reported by Vos Iz Neias