Key Pennsylvania Senate Leader Announces Support for Conducting AZ-Style Election Audit
A Pennsylvania senator, whose committee has oversight of election administration, announced Friday he would support conducting an audit of his state’s November presidential election results similar to the one underway in Arizona.
“It’s a very careful recount, forensic audit, so yeah, I don’t see the danger in it,” Republican Sen. David Argall, chairman of the Senate State Government Committee said during a Spotlight PA forum with correspondents from across the state, The Hill reported.
“I just think that it would not be a bad idea at all to proceed with an audit similar to what they’re doing in Arizona,” he added.
“I am not hung up on how exactly the audit is completed. I just think that we should complete one,” Argall said.
“I think it needs to be independent. I think there is going to be mistrust if the same people who conducted the election conduct the audit.”
Former President Donald Trump held a 600,000 vote lead over President Joe Biden in Pennsylvania the day after the election, only to see it disappear as absentee ballots continued to be counted.
Biden ultimately carried the commonwealth by approximately 80,500 votes.
Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Keystone State by just over 44,000 votes in 2016.
A major difference between the two contests was the number of absentee ballots submitted: approximately 2.6 million in November versus less than 300,000 in 2016.
[firefly_poll]
Trump issued a statement last week criticizing Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman and Argall for not undertaking an election audit.
“Why is State Senator Jake Corman of Pennsylvania fighting so hard that there not be a Forensic Audit of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam? Corman is fighting as though he were a Radical Left Democrat, saying that a Forensic Audit of Pennsylvania not take place,” Trump said.
“Why is Senator David Argall playing the same game? Are they stupid, corrupt, or naive? What is going on? Other State Senators want this Forensic Audit to take place — immediately,” he added.
Former President Donald Trump has more to say to Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman. Tldr; audit. pic.twitter.com/ZfX8PTqb5m
— Stephen Caruso (@StephenJ_Caruso) June 14, 2021
Trump noted that other Republican state senators like Doug Mastriano and Cris Dush want Pennsylvania to conduct its own audit.
After touring the Arizona audit site earlier this month, Mastriano said, “I don’t think we really have an option. We probably have to do this in a couple counties. Let the chips fall where they may.”
“This is not about overturning,” he added.
“It’s about finding the truth.”
I see 4-5 ballot counting tables still operating, so recount continues
~50 inspection tables
And 5 teams of two people each sorting ballots in some way. Not sure what they are doing there. pic.twitter.com/RGVDojUlp7
— Jen Fifield (@JenAFifield) June 16, 2021
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Argall’s committee has the power to subpoena November’s ballots, much as the chairman of Arizona’s Senate Judiciary Committee and senate president did.
Argall “hopes to ‘wrap up’ the issue in the next few weeks. He said he would want the review to be independent, whether through the state auditor general’s office or a Senate-commissioned probe,” according to the Post-Gazette.
The audit could be financed through public or private funds, the senator said. In Arizona, it was paid for by a combination of the two.
