Keystone Today

News that the Kentucky secretary of state called for special elections on Nov. 2 to fill three legislative vacancies rankled a Pennsylvania House member, whose own election reform legislation was vetoed by Gov. Tom Wolf (D) in June.

In announcing the Kentucky elections, Secretary of State Michael Adams said, “These special elections will be historic -- the first held following Kentucky’s most significant election reform since 1891. I’m excited to now implement our nationally praised law that makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat,” according to Fox56.

Reacting to the news, Pennsylvania Rep. Seth Grove (R-York), sponsor of the Voting Rights Protection Act, blasted Wolf.

“This could have been Pennsylvania, too, but you know one guy decided not to read a bill and parrot fake DNC (Democratic National Committee) talking points,” Grove Tweeted Aug. 30. “So voters and counties are stuck with bad election laws. Because one guy with a doctorate in government from MIT couldn’t read a bill.”

The governor vetoed Grove’s bill (House Bill 1300), which included voter ID for in-person voting and other provisions tightening the state’s election laws. Wolf said the voter ID, in particular, would suppress the minority vote. A month later Wolf reversed his position on voter ID, giving Grove some hope that the governor would be open for negotiations once lawmakers return to Harrisburg in September, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In the Pennsylvania Senate, there have been two recent election reform developments. The Republican and Democratic chairs of the State Government Committee wrote a memoranda asking colleagues to sign on to proposed election reform legislation. Among other changes, the bill, proposed by Sen. David Argall (R-Rush Township) and Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) would allow for a three-day pre-canvassing rule, continuous video surveillance of ballot drop boxes, tightened application deadlines and an elimination of the permanent mail-in ballot list.

Senate President Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) said last week that hearings will begin into an audit of the 2020 general election and the 2021 primary. Corman said that the audits were necessary given the way the current and former secretaries of state handled the elections, according to Keystone Today.

A November statement from Senate Republican leadership called for former Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar’s resignation: “Constantly changing guidance she has delivered to counties not only directly contradicts the election code language she is sworn to uphold, but also conflicts her own litigation statements and decisions of both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.”

Boockvar resigned in February after failing to advertise a proposed constitutional amendment.

Democrats charge that Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers are backing changes to election laws only because former President Donald Trump falsely claimed he lost the Quaker State due to voter fraud.