Second Lawsuit Filed To Stop Republican Investigation of 2020 Election Results
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday night, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Pennsylvania, its Department of State and Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Veronica Degraffenreid against Republican state senators. The Republican defendants recently voted to issue an expansive subpoena request issued as part of an investigation of the 2020 presidential election, despite the fact that the committee that issued the subpoena “has no experience, authority, or jurisdiction to oversee election matters.” This is the second lawsuit filed over the subpoena and related investigation into the 2020 presidential election results in Pennsylvania, which were determined to be “free, fair, and secure” despite allegations of unfounded fraud put forward by former President Trump and his allies.
The subpoena at the center of the lawsuit is issued to the acting secretary of the commonwealth and demands election materials that provide the “names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, portions of social security numbers and addresses of all registered voters in the Commonwealth,” as well as governmental agency materials related to past election audits. In an action similar to the ongoing audit in Arizona, the committee plans to hand this information over to a third-party contractor. The Republican senators behind the subpoena have “conceded that it is ‘absolutely possible’ that the vendor will have connections to the perpetrators of some of the most vicious lies about the 2020 election,” according to the petition. The suit argues that the subpoena infringes on Pennsylvanians’ right to privacy regarding their personal information, was issued without a legitimate legislative purpose, was done outside the purview of the state Senate committee’s authority and is overbroad. The suit also alleges that the subpoena violates the Pennsylvania Constitution by infringing on the “guarantee that elections shall be free and equal” and interfering with the fundamental right to vote. The petitioners ask that the court block the subpoena from being enforced.