Republicans are supposed to oppose government overreach. Instead, GOP leadership in Harrisburg is taking overreach to a whole new level with an overly broad subpoena for records related to the 2020 and 2021 elections.
Fortunately, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro has filed a lawsuit to try and stop the effort.
The subpoena is part of a Republican effort ostensibly to determine whether any errors or anomalies took place during the 2020 general and 2021 primary elections. Party leaders in Pennsylvania insist their investigation has nothing to do with Mr. Trump’s calls for investigations into voter fraud nor an attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s win last year.
Still, Pennsylvania’s “forensic audit” — let’s call it a fraudit — is similar to the one recently concluded in Arizona that not only affirmed President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump, it added to Mr. Biden’s tally.
The effort in Pennsylvania may prove pointless in that regard as well, but it nonetheless could create real problems for Pennsylvania voters.
In addition to seeking all communications from the Department of State to county officials regarding details on guidance, procedures and training materials used for the elections, the subpoena wants to pry deeply into the personal information of every voter.
That’s right. The subpoena asks for the name, address, driver’s license number and last four Social Security digits of nearly 7 million voters who cast ballots. If having all that data in the hands of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee isn’t frightening enough, there’s more.
The committee at some point would turn that treasure trove of information over to an as-yet unidentified private contractor. Even if the committee and the company it selects don’t misuse the data, it won’t be long before unscrupulous hackers swoop in.
During a hearing on the measure last month, Democrat after Democrat tried to get answers as to why the GOP thinks the information is necessary and relevant. The replies were vague at best.
Mr. Shapiro wasted no time in filing a lawsuit to stop this information power grab. On Sept. 23, he announced that he filed the lawsuit in Commonwealth Court on behalf of the state against the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, its chairman, Cris Dush of Jefferson County, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman of Centre County.
“Giving this data away would compromise the privacy of every Pennsylvania voter — that violates Pennsylvanians’ constitutional rights. By trying to pry into everyone’s driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers they have gone too far. Today we say enough is enough. What they are doing is against the law and we intend to win.”
All Pennsylvania voters should hope so. That or they should probably kiss their identities goodbye and get ready to start the hassle of disputing unauthorized credit card transactions and bank account withdrawals.
First Published: October 3, 2021, 4:00 a.m.
