Pennsylvania Republicans are introducing legislation that would override how the state’s electors are chosen, the GOP's latest move to challenge Joe Biden’s victory and hand the state’s 20 electoral college votes to Donald Trump.
“There is mounting evidence that the PA presidential election was compromised,” Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano, who led a hearing on voter fraud in the state this week, tweeted on Saturday. “If this is the case, under Article II, Section 1.2 of the US Constitution, the state legislature has the sole authority to direct the manner of selecting delegates to the Electoral College.”
This selection process, Mastriano claimed, would ensure that people are not “disenfranchised through a corrupt election process.”
In Pennsylvania, each party’s nominee selects their list of electors, and the winning party’s list is later certified. If the legislature were to choose the electors instead, it would give President Trump the chance of the state’s 20 electoral votes going to him instead of Biden, who normally would receive the votes since he won the popular vote in the state.
While the GOP controls both the House and Senate in Pennsylvania, the longshot strategy faces a major uphill battle, especially since Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has not been supportive of claims about voter fraud in his state from Trump’s campaign. Republican leaders in the legislature have also not been supportive of having a role in selecting electors.
“Our position on the seating of electors has not changed, and we don’t have a role,” Jason Gottesman, a spokesperson for the state House GOP, said of Mastriano’s new efforts.
Time is also a factor as electors are supposed to cast their votes on December 14 in Harrisburg.
Also on rt.com Federal appeals court rejects Trump campaign’s Pennsylvania voter fraud lawsuit, Supreme Court could be nextMastriano said on former Trump strategist Steve Bannon’s podcast ‘War Room’ on Friday that he expects a “struggle” with this new move.
“We’re going to hear the palpitations and you know the outcries of our Gov. (Tom) Wolf and Secretary (of State Kathy) Boockvar, whose resignation should have happened months ago and she shouldn’t have ever been confirmed,” he said.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro revealed this week through Twitter that the state’s presidential electors have already been chosen and certified.
“Pennsylvania’s presidential electors have been chosen and certified in accordance with the popular vote in our Commonwealth,” he tweeted. “This is exactly how the process should happen – the people vote, those votes are counted, and the electors chosen reflect the will of the people.”
Biden leads Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 81,000 votes, but the president has insisted he would have won the state if not for voter fraud. Trump claimed on Friday that more than a million votes in the state were fraudulent.
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