Keystone Today

A Pennsylvania state senator is initiating a forensics investigation into the results of the state’s 2020 general election and the 2021 primary. 

Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), chair of the Intergovernmental Operations Committee, announced in an op-ed posted on his office webpage that he has sent letters to several counties requesting material needed to begin a forensics investigation.

On Wednesday, he told One American News that the counties were Tioga, Philadelphia and York.

“We have asked these counties to respond by July 31 with a plan to comply,” Mastriano said in his op-ed. “The counties represent different geographical regions of Pennsylvania and differing political makeups. Some are Republican while others are Democrat, which means that this will be a balanced investigation.”

Mastriano said that the audit was necessary since “millions of Pennsylvanians have serious doubts about the accuracy of the 2020 general election.”

He cited a January Muhlenberg University poll that showed 40% of Pennsylvania voters lacked confidence that the results from the 2020 election reflected how Pennsylvanians voted.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden carried Pennsylvania by about 80,000 votes, triggering unfounded cries of fraud from President Donald Trump's campaign. Trump won the state in 2016.

“Discounting or mocking their concerns is neither an answer nor proper in this constitutional republic,” Mastriano said.

Mastriano also said that Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and his secretary of state “refused to conduct any type of thorough investigation despite the concerns of millions of our citizens in the aftermath of the election and hundreds of affidavits alleging firsthand fraud, irregularities, and illegal behavior witnessed at polling places.”

“The closest thing to an investigation we got was a small so called ‘risk-limiting’ audit, which consisted of a sample of only 45,000 randomly selected ballots from the November election," Mastriano said. "Not nearly the type of investigation that was needed to determine any fraud, misconduct, or technical anomalies. This audit was conducted by the Department of State and did not include public input or outside observers.”

Wolf vetoed on June 30 sweeping election reform legislation, House Bill 1300, that included a voter ID provision. According to a recent Franklin & Marshall College poll, 74% of Pennsylvanians support voter ID.

In June, Mastriano and two other state lawmakers toured an ongoing forensics audit of 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, Arizona in the November general elections. Maricopa includes the cities of Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale.