Citing voter privacy, civil rights groups aim to block Pa. lawmakers’ election subpoena

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Several organizations are banding together in the latest legal effort to block Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers from obtaining personal information of millions of voters in their review of the 2020 election.

Common Cause Pennsylvania, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Make the Road Pennsylvania, and eight voters have filed a petition to join Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s lawsuit to block the lawmakers’ subpoena. Last month, Shapiro filed suit and argued the subpoena could potentially expose private information of voters, thus hurting their constitutional right to vote. Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has also filed suit.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP are representing the civil rights groups seeking to join the litigation. The petition was filed in Commonwealth Court.

The ACLU said it is aiming to protect the privacy of the state’s 9 million registered voters.

“When Pennsylvanians register to vote, they have a reasonable expectation that the state will safeguard their personal data,” Vic Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

“In fact, they have a right to privacy in their personal information under both the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions that protects their data,” Walczak said. “Senate leaders are potentially exposing nine million Pennsylvanians to increased likelihood of identity theft and financial fraud, while also creating dangerous new vulnerabilities in the state’s election systems.”

“These subpoenas are a frightening violation of voters’ privacy and an egregious abuse of power,” Common Cause Executive Director Khalif Ali said in a statement on the petition. “Some of the data subpoenaed is usually exempt from public release because of privacy concerns, and that information could be a goldmine for identity thieves.

The Pennsylvania Senate, led by Republicans, has been moving forward with a review of the 2020 election and has been seeking information from state officials. A Senate panel has filed subpoenas requesting voter information from those who voted in 2020, including voters’ names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

Republican lawmakers say a full investigation is needed to restore voter confidence in the elections.

Wolf and other Democrats have lambasted the effort and said Republicans are merely amplifying former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the election was rigged. The Democratic governor has argued Republicans are undermining voter trust in the election system.

President Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by about 80,000 votes on his way to the White House. Federal, state and local officials have repeatedly said there was no widespread fraud in the election.

Republican Sen. Cris Dush of Jefferson County is leading the panel reviewing the election. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre County, chose Dush to replace Sen. Doug Mastriano as head of the investigation.

Dush has said he hopes the investigation leads to the truth about what happened in the 2020 election but said he lacks confident in the vote count.

In an interview with PennLive in August, Dush said, “Nobody in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can tell you who the winner was in any of these races from November 2020.” Dush also told PennLive he has spoken to Trump and he said Trump would be watching the election review.

Dush has said the personal information is needed to verify the legitimacy of voters who cast ballots. He has suggested that the information will be given to an auditing firm that has yet to be hired, the Associated Press reported.

Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers have said they’d like to undertake an election review similar to a widely-publicized probe in Arizona. The Republican-backed review of the 2020 election in Arizona ended without proof of any widespread fraud; the investigation found Biden would have won by 360 more votes than the official results certified last year, the Associated Press reported.

Terrie Griffin, president of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, defended the integrity of the election and denounced GOP lawmakers for trying to obtain voters’ personal information.

“With this sham election review, Pennsylvania legislators are intentionally injecting discord into our election process and threatening the personal privacy of millions of voters,” Griffin said in a statement. “Pennsylvania’s 2020 Election was executed safely and securely. This election review is a blatant attempt to weaken voters’ trust in our election system while exposing their sensitive data to possible exploitation and manipulation. Voters’ private data must be protected.”

Two Republican lawmakers, state Sens. Gene Yaw and Dan Laughlin, have argued against going forward with a review of the election. In an op-ed, Laughlin argued there was no fraud and said, “Donald Trump lost Pennsylvania because Donald Trump received fewer votes.”

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