I read in the July 11 edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, with great interest, the opinion piece submitted by Sen. Doug Mastriano concerning the 2020 General Election and 2021 Primary.
In my humble opinion the article is riddled with obfuscation techniques commonly used by those trying to justify actions from an honorable perch. The Senator first addresses the authority to conduct a “forensic” audit according to various Senate rules. The article states that he issued letters to several counties requesting information. Nowhere does he state that his standing committee was in concurrence with the request. No public opinion was sought as far as I know. If one person on one state committee has such massive authority, I would question the rationality of the Senate Rule 14(d). No one individual should possess such power to order countless numbers of County and State workers to stop day-to-day work to pander to the requests of a single State Senator. I have no idea how many other standing committees exist but if each chair has this authority one can easily see the chaos such authority could cause throughout the state. To my knowledge such a massive request for voting information has never been made by a single sitting Senator. Why now and why by Mr Mastriano.
The Senator states that a January poll “showed that 40 percent of PA voters are not confident that the results of the 2020 election reflected how PA’s voted.” No one asked me or the dozens of people I asked if they were queried. Furthermore his poll number implies that 60 percent had no difficulty accepting the results of the election. I’ve voted for over 50 years and saw nothing unusual about the voting process in 2020…. but I’m just one person without the authority of Senate rule 14d. If 40 percent outweighs 60 percent, then I believe we truly have a confused and deliberately muddled democracy.
The Senator states, “The case for a forensic investigation of 2020 general election is evident to any unbiased observer.” Really! I would contend that by just stating it doesn’t necessarily make it so. Sweeping generalizations should be carefully and diligently scrutinized.
Nowhere in his article does the Senator state anticipated costs for his desired actions. Should state taxpayers bear this further burden without a majority support. If any individual chairperson can authorize such expenses again I would ask that we tread very, very cautiously. If the Arizona model is applied as the PA model for this “forensic” work, I as a taxpayer heartedly disagree with such expenditures.
Finally, the Senator states “This investigation is not about overturning the results of either election. The goals are to restore faith in the integrity of our system, confirm the effectiveness of existing legislation on the governance of elections, and identify areas for legislative reform.” My sense is that this is just more obfuscation made by the state senator. It seems that he spends far too much time (and money) justifying his singular desired action to continually muddy the water rather than apply that energy to taking serious steps that truly help the needs of the people of our State.
I could go on but hopefully I’ve made my point. I am left to wonder if there is another reason why he would want to take this action. Oh that’s right, there is a gubernatorial election in 2022.
We need principled leaders who care about fair, straightforward actions throughout our fine state. I can’t wait to cast my next vote!
JOHN DELANEY
Tioga County
Submitted via Virtual Newsroom
