WATCH: Pennsylvania governor, secretary of state discuss 2020 election results
Updated: 1:14 PM EST Jan 6, 2021
later today, Republican members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation evidently planned to object to the counting of Pennsylvania's electoral votes. They claim to believe that Pennsylvania's election was compromised and that our electoral votes are suspect. This, of course, is a shameful lie. The very democracy these lawmakers swore an oath to uphold is at risk here. Every member of the United States House of Representatives was elected in the general election this past November by questioning the results of the presidential election. These lawmakers air questioning the legitimacy of their own elections as well. These lawmakers cannot, in good faith, claim to believe something that has been disproved directly and repeatedly by the courts and they, by the way, that state and federal courts and they could not have taken their own seats in Congress in good conscience if they truly believed the election results were inaccurate. Which just leaves one possibility that they are purposely spreading disinformation about our elections for personal political gain. That's shameful and thats destructive, and I cannot let it stand unchallenged by spreading myths and telling lies about our elections and the hardworking county election officials who administer them. These lawmakers air damaging the trust Pennsylvanians have in their elections, in their election officials and in their in government. The problem is, these folks are not telling the truth because it's a fact. Pennsylvania had a fair and free election. It's a fact that there was no fraud or illegal activity in Pennsylvania. It's a fact that Joe Biden won the presidency. And to be clear, it wasn't even close. Joe Biden won the election by seven million votes across the United States. He won the Electoral College by the same margin Donald Trump did four years ago, and he nearly doubled the Trump margin of victory in Pennsylvania. Across the country, state and federal judges, including many Republican appointees, have extensively reviewed allegations of fraud in the general election and repeatedly dismissed them as untrue. The Trump campaign has lost more than 60 court cases because there is simply no evidence, no evidence that fraud occurred during the election or while these votes were being counted fact checkers. Election administration experts have also independently debunked these false accusations. Even Trump administration officials have spoken up to tell the truth. President Trump's former attorney general, Bill Bar, confirmed there was no widespread fraud Chris Crabs, who oversaw election cybersecurity for the Trump administration, said this election was the most secure in United States history. Pennsylvania election officials, volunteers and voters of both parties worked hard to make this a safe and secure election. Republican lawmakers cannot change the facts just because they don't like them. These actions damage the very institutions that allow our nation to have a free and fair election system that allow us to have a peaceful transition of power. When an elected official leaves office, they're disrespectful to the American people who exercised their rights to vote in this election and to the Patriots who fought and died for our democracy. A little over 157 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, made a speech that said it much better than I can in a little Pennsylvania town, Gettysburg, just a few miles southwest of here. He reaffirmed the reason why the soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg during the civil war fought and died. He reminded us that the Democrat Democratic principles for which they died were absolutely central to the promise of America. The ceremony was intended to consecrate the cemetery in which the soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg were laid to rest. But his Lincoln pointed out the people who really consecrated that battlefield, the brave men living in dead, who struggled there. They were the ones who consecrated it, he said. It was for us the living, rather to be dedicated to the unfinished work for which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and the government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish his point. His point, of course, was that the arguments, debates and ideas that give life to the act of governing in a democracy like ours cannot be separated from the system within which that governing takes place. Democracy is a perpetual experiment empowering ordinary citizens, not kings, not emperors, to direct their government. That's a central responsibility of every public servant, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative in the United States is to make sure our citizens retain that power. Sadly, here in Pennsylvania yesterday and evidently today later today in Washington. Some of our public servants have seen two for gotten that As a result, government of the people by the people for the people has really taken a hit. Now I'm proud to turn this over to Secretary Kathy. Book for Secretary book. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. It's not recognizing my face. I'd Good afternoon. Happy New Year. Thank you very much, Governor Wolf. And thank you, Commissioner Schmidt, for being here, uh, in November, in November's election. Ah, 100 years and one day after American women voted for the very first time, we were extremely proud of the record voter participation in the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania had held a fair, free, secure and accessible election for eligible Pennsylvanians with exceptional transparency throughout the entire process. Once again, I want to give tremendous thanks to all the election officials and poor workers, Republicans and Democrats who worked tirelessly amidst a global pandemic so that eligible voters could exercise their fundamental right to vote and decide this election. And they did in record numbers. Act 77 of 2019 and act 12 of 2020 made the most extensive changes in more than 80 years in the Commonwealth to Hell voters vote in Pennsylvania and how we run elections in Pennsylvania, including longer voter registration periods, no excuse mail in voting and MAWR. Local and state election officials implemented all these changes in the face of a global pandemic delivery delays acknowledged by the U. S. Postal Service itself in an unprecedented amount of false litigation and challenges brought throughout the year. Despite all these challenges, Pennsylvanians registered and voted in record numbers in 2020 approximately 9.1 million Pennsylvanians air registered to vote more than 300,000 more voters than ever before and turn out in the November election included more than 6.9 million voters 800,000 MAWR Pennsylvanians than ever in our history. Over 76% of registered Pennsylvanians voter voted far more than ever before, and those votes were counted accurately and securely by the county's. No matter whether you voted in person on Election day, by mail or at your early in your county election office, I say this with supreme confidence because our counties have some of the most dedicated, hard working professional election officials in the country. Here's one with us today and our Commonwealth has become a pioneer in election security and integrity. Pennsylvania's 67 county boards of election worked incredibly hard around the clock in collaboration with the Department of State with PEMA, with state and federal offices of homeland security, the offices of information technology, information security officers, Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania National Guard, D MBA and other key local, state and federal partners to ensure the highest level of security and integrity of Pennsylvania's election processes. AH layered set of defenses are in place in the Commonwealth. Protect every step of the process, including cybersecurity protections, extensive eligibility checking procedures and state of the art voting systems that meet stringent federal and state standards for security and accessibility and provide an auditable, voter verifiable paper ballot for every voter in the Commonwealth. In addition, in order to vote by mail in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania's must apply and be approved. They go through extensive. I'd checking they need to provide their driver's license or the last four of the Social Security numbers. They also have to check against the voter record to make sure that they're eligible voters and then once the ballot is sent in by the voter, another round of checking is done to make sure that the voter actually was on the list of approved male and voters. The voter needs to sign an oath under penalty of pent perjury and the entire process of secure. Additionally, every single voting system in the state have successfully completed penetration, testing, access, control, testing and testing to ensure that every access point, software and firmware are protected from tampering. And no voting system is connected to the Internet. Pennsylvania processes also ensure that no voter is wrongly disenfranchised and every single qualified vote is counted. That takes some time before counties certify the results to the department. They're required by statute also to conduct an audit of a random sample of at least a T least 2% or 2000 of their ballots. Additionally, Pennsylvania was one of the first states in the nation to pilot additional voluntary audits on top of what they're already required by statute. They've been conducting pilots of the Wrist Liming audit, and Philadelphia was one of the first two counties in the state to pilot the security measure. In 2019, we went on to pilots, um, statewide risk limiting audits in 2020. And these were scientifically designed procedures using statistical methods to provide a high level of confidence in statistical verification, that the outcome of an election is accurate and to detect possible interference. The department in counties air currently conducting another statewide rece slimming audit pilot of the 2020 presidential election, as we did after the primary, with everything our country and commonwealth has faced this year, we're reminded more than ever why we must fight any effort toe, undermine our great democracy. Thank you to everyone who exercise their precious right to vote and thank you again to all our election officials and poll workers for tirelessly carrying out the democratic processes so that the will of the voters, as expressed in November and then certified and voted again by the Electoral College in December, may be heard and carried out. And now I'd like to introduce Philadelphia Commissioner Al Schmidt. Good afternoon. Thank you, Governor Wolf and Secretary Boockvar for inviting me to be with you here today. All Pennsylvanians should have confidence in the election results. In Philadelphia, we had the most transparent and secure election in the history of our city. Our dedicated election workers demonstrated determination and integrity in counting every valid vote cast by eligible voters on or before Election Day and did so under unprecedented it's circumstances. Every vote cast and counted in Philadelphia had a voter verifiable paper ballot record, and the canvas of those ballots was livestreamed and fully open toe observers of all parties. Our republic is better when we all have the opportunity to participate, and as public servants, it's our duty to put aside partisan political interests to serve our constituents in a once in a lifetime pandemic. We were able to provide safe in person voting and a convenient and safe vote by mail option. I'm proud to say that Philadelphia had its highest turnout in MAWR than 30 years. Even with the significant turnout in the many lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania, there wasn't a single challenge on the basis of a voter's eligibility to cast their vote in Philadelphia. At the heart of our electoral system is the faith Americans have in the integrity of our elections, confidence that we do everything we can to count legitimately cast votes from eligible voters and trust that we do everything in our power to protect our elections from illegitimately cast votes. Now is the time to come together and to continue to improve our electoral system and restore that faith, we must do so based on fax and informed by data rejecting disinformation and with the understanding that this past election in Pennsylvania was free and fair. Governor. Okay, we will now begin the Q and a portion of our press conference. Please keep an eye on the chat features. You will see the reporter who was to ask their question and the reporter who is on deck on deck. We have Tyler from W L V R. And a reporter. Now is for us from the Scranton Times Tribune. Boris, please on mute and ask your question. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't have a question. Thank you. Okay, Tyler, please. On mute and ask your question. Good afternoon. My question is for the governor, Governor Wolf, as we've just heard, detailed by Secretary book Far and Commissioner Smith the ways that Pennsylvania held a free and fair election. You based your you pointed your comments. Uh, at lawmakers. What would you say to the American people and Pennsylvanians that continue to believe that Pennsylvanians election was fraudulent. They're wrong. And I would also suggest to the people who are preventing this disinformation and trying to make people, uh, believe against all reality and all the facts, Uh, that the elections were not free and fair, that they ought to stop doing that. Okay. Our next question is from Dennis Evans from ABC 27. Dennis, please, on mute Happy New Year, Everybody. Thank you for doing this, Governor. Actually, my question. I know the dramas in Washington D. C today, but my questions for Kathy Boockvar regarding the state Senate race in Western Pennsylvania and Secretary Book Bar. We're told that your guidance before the election was that mail in ballots that did not have a date that is the voter didn't sign and date the mail in ballots should be set aside and voided. You have a district with two counties, Westmoreland and Allegheny, one of which tossed him and the other one's keeping them. If those mail in ballots that didn't have dates are counted, one person wins. If they're not, another person wins. Obviously a testament to every vote counting, of course. But what can you say about people saying that you you're a guide in your own guidance was to dismiss those ballots and what? But you now certified an election in which a county chose to keep those mail in ballots that didn't have dates on them. Can you give us your thoughts on that? Sure that happy new you do as well. Eso as you know this is This is a circumstance that has been before the federal courts in the state courts. The Department of State's role in this is actually very simple. The county's certify their votes. They provide them to the Department of State. You could look in the statute statute, says Department. State receives the votes from the counties, and then we certify based on the county certifications. The one of the candidates in this case, the losing candidate did ask the court to enjoin us from certifying the results of that election. The court denied that dentists, and so it's very simple. The county's provide us their certifications. We have a duty to then certify the elections, the winner in this race based on the certifications with Senator Brewster, and we certified that race at the same time we certified all the races so he was that? That's the simple fact of the matter. And, uh, the courts, you know, there are still active, and we'll decide it from here. Thank you. Thank you, Dennis. Our next question is from Ryan from CBS 21. Ryan, please. On mute secretary book, for my question is for you really? I have to. The first question is, we haven't heard from you, and I want to say almost two months. Why has it been that long since you've been part of one of these press? Well, actually, I don't think we've done any election press conferences in two months. So it Zbynek as simple as look, the counting was going on and the counties were doing their job. We were providing support to the counties to make sure they could get all the work done. I was very honored to preside over the Electoral College in December. Hopefully, you had a chance to see that, but we really were letting the process take it. Take its course. So, Governor, I don't know if you have anything you'd like to add to that. Yeah, I think e don't know. It was two months, but the election process uh, the We have a court system and the court system was obviously used by all kinds of folks in in this process, and I think that's where the action was. It was not anything that we had anything to do with. So I think that's that's why it has been that that long today things were happening in political arena. I think call for for for us to say something, Governor, while I have you to question Republicans had sent a letter to U. S Senate majority leader. Think yeah had ignored all or independent investigations regarding the election. Um, did you ever see any request for an independent investigation and were those ignored that your understanding? I didn't see that. She said, No, I don't know what they're talking about. Okay, thank you. Our next question is from Jim from K. Y. W news radio. Jim, please on mute and ask your question. Just a quick follow up for a secretary book bar, understanding the certification by the county and certification by the state and then the rulings by the court. But the question has been the guidance beforehand. Was their guidance specifically related to dates on mail in ballots that went out before Election Day. You you can look at all the guidance is public and posted on our website so you could look there were multiple. As you know there was and, as the governor mentioned, and I think, as Commissioner Smith mentioned and I mentioned, there's been unprecedented litigation throughout the year. So throughout the year, we we provided guidance to the best of the you know, the courts guidance, Um, and actually a lot of the litigation, both in federal court and state court. Actually, you said that the guidance was critically important and upheld their decisions based on the guidance that was put out. So I don't know the exact allegations here. Please feel free to go onto the website, check out the guidance we continuously updated based on those court decisions and provided that guidance to every single one of the county's on a uniform basis. Um, the county's all the other counties in the state seemed to have followed it just fine, and the legal process allows for challenges. So several of the county's experience those challenges from the candidates or the parties, and they went through that process and that's what those challenges processes are therefore to do that. So again, we had a free and fair elections, with all the counties and the candidates being able to follow those rules and end in the result of the will of the people where we are today. Thank you, Jim. Our next question is from Carrie from the Center for Public Integrity. Kerry, please on mute Hi. Thanks very much for taking my question. It's really for the secretary end for Commissioner Smith Schmidt, in the wake of this election. Uh, there's been a lot of talk about the Legislature making additional changes to voting procedures, especially to vote by mail for Pennsylvania. And I'd like to ask you both. You know, what you see is the next steps with this how you're working with the Legislature and what feedback you would give them about what would and wouldn't be a helpful change. What would you like to see happen, given the lessons learned for the 2020 election? So for for me And I'm you know, Alan, I haven't had this discussion yet, But the top priority for us, I would say, is, you know, still, the pre canvassing, which was shown throughout the process of the election that it takes longer than 13 hours that the on election day to actually process pre process the mail in and absentee ballots when you're looking at millions of ballots. So the counties were phenomenal worked around the clock to get it done. But 46 other states in this country provide their counties with weeks of time ahead of Election Day to pre canvas those ballots. That's our single biggest priority on the elections front to help the county's effectively administer the elections. And I'll defer to you. I wholeheartedly agree with the secretary. Pre canvassing is critical. Uh, not just in the processing of votes, but in helping to, you know, maintain and restore Thean Teng gritty of the process. I think it was difficulty for our county and many counties to feel like we, you know, the Legislature and others were putting their foot on the gas and the brake at the same time. They wanted results like that but were unwilling to give the county's what they needed to begin preparing those ballots and those declaration envelopes for processing so that we could begin reporting those results on election day on election morning. In fact, I think there'll be other things as well. And I know our county and other counties will be reaching out, uh, to the governor's office into the secretary, moving forward with regard to improvements to the electoral process. Thank you. Carry. Our next question is from Russia from the Pennsylvania Legislative Services, Please on mute and ask your question. Hi. My questions for Governor Wolf. It's kind of related to that last one. Um, so, you know, I think the fact that you know we're at this press conference right now really underscores that this was a really tense election cycle, Um, in Pennsylvania. And, you know, in addition to that, it was also the first election year where we had Act 77 mail in balloting in place. So, um, looking forward, it does seem like some law makers and the General Assembly are interested in revisiting the topic of million ballots legislatively, um, maybe addressing pre canvassing, but also perhaps adding more requirements or rolling back pieces about 77. Um, So I guess what I would ask is what long term effects, if any. Do you think that the disagreements intention we've seen over this election, Um, like, will have on how you approach your conversations and collaboration with the Legislature on the issue. Moving forward. Andi Also, is there any scenario where you would sign legislation rolling back any portions of Act 77? Well, let's keep in mind that the Act 77 electoral reform was a bipartisan measure. Uh, that came out of a general assembly where the Republican Party had a majority in both the House and the Senate. And I think we need Thio, remember? And I think it was It was great. I signed it willingly because we move forward in terms of making voting mawr accessible and easier for Pennsylvanians. And I think the results were that more people came out Thio vote we're doing. We did what you're supposed to do in a democracy, and that's regardless of whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. Um, I noticed, interestingly enough, that that coming out of 2019, we all seem to be on the same page. Uh, there was a lot of talk about pre canvassing about extending that period. Uh, and and counties Republican and Democratic counties were interested in in having that done so that they could be ready to count the ballots on do it in a more timely basis. I think it's interesting right now in Georgia. I think they have a two week, pre canvassing period and so the election results are being reported in a very timely fashion. So I'd like to see that that kind of thing. I'm not sure what you're talking about in terms of other things that might or might not be in election reform, But if the question is do I think that that we can make it better, I do and I'm hoping that we could do the same way we did it before in a very bipartisan way. I think this was obviously a tough election and I think there were some issues that were raised, Unfortunately in 2020 about the system itself, I think is unfortunate because I think it It drew attention and raised questions about the democratic process in general, and I'm not sure why you'd want to do that. I think way all know we could make the democratic process better, which is what Act 77 tried to dio. I don't think you don't know how what we're doing now which is destructive to the democratic system is in any way helpful. So I'm hoping we can get back on the same page. We can all work together and say, Let's forget the fact that we might have different ideas and we might argue about specific policies, but we all have a vested interest, a shared interest in a strong and healthy democracy. Mhm. Okay, we're gonna continue along. Our next question is from Tom from W G A L Tom, please on you and ask your question. Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon. Um, you talked a lot about what you believe to be misinformation, but beyond that, what else do you think this state could do to either improved transparency or offer? I guess Mawr more of a way for people to trust the results. And I say this for the people who reach out to us on a daily basis, saying they don't trust what happened. Is there anything that you believe the state could do even further to improve, you know, reach out to those people I don't know and I'm not sure it's misinformation. It's absolutely disinformation. I think it z an attempt to actually mislead people. It's not accidental. It's not just random bits of information. Uh, it's being done on a conscious basis, and I think that has undermined the system. So yeah, I agree There are people out there who have been led to believe by unscrupulous politicians that a system that we have done everything to make is free and fair and open and transparent as we possibly could. That's still there are people who who claim that that things aren't aren't right. Now, if that were true, I mean, this has gone through now months of court cases, it has been challenged. Where's the evidence? What is it that that is wrong here? And if there's something wrong, I think we've shown every inclination, every every willingness Thio open up and do anything we can to make this more fair, more open, more transparent. But I'm at a loss to understand what more we could dio Okay, Our next question is from John Delano from Katie K. John, please on you and ask your question. Yes, thank you very much. Happy New Year, Governor! Happy New Year, Secretary Boockvar Happy New Year, John Let me ask you this question, and you may have answered it in some ways. But as you know, when Pennsylvania's name is called on the Electoral College, votes are expected to be read. And that may happen in the wee hours tomorrow morning. Um, we're gonna see us. Eight of the nine Pennsylvania Republican congressman object to that vote. Some have said that they are violating their oath of office that they're engaged in treasonous activities. Sedition has been tossed out there. Governor, how would you characterize the actions of these particular Pennsylvania members of Congress? Well, it's inconsistent at best. I mean, each of them was elected according to the rules that they're apparently, uh, saying that they don't agree with. And as I said in my comments, I don't understand how you could do that. Are you saying I didn't like this particular election? Uh, not because of the way it was handled, because mine was elected. I was elected the same way, but because of who the voters voted for, Well, that's pretty dangerous when you start getting into the that area in terms of a democracy, if you're saying that because I don't like the outcome of a game because I don't like the outcome of this election, I'm gonna arbitrarily and unilaterally change it. What does that say about the democratic system that is, at four at found foundation based on on the ability of each individual citizen to vote and direct and hire the people they want to hire? Are you taking that away from the voters? I think I think I think I don't I don't know how what I would call it, except basically inconsistent. ITT's inconsistent with their own interests. It's inconsistent with their own election. It's inconsistent with the way democracy is intended to work is puzzling. Thank you, John. Our next question will be from Marks, Corporal from the Associated Press, Please on mute and ask your question. Good afternoon. Thank you. Governor, Secretary and Commissioner. My question has to do with at 77. So much of the litigation had to do with the envelope, the declaration, the name, the date Rachel name. How much of that could be changed outside of legislation? Are you considering changing it? And do you support making changes to those details through legislation? Do you think these kinds of changes would would be a good thing or a bad thing. And do you think they might help avoid the type of flood of litigation that we've experienced in the last few months? Let me turn that over to Secretary book for. Hi, Mark. How are you? Um, so I would say this, You know, I think what the what was interesting about the court decisions in in that case, you know, even for the provision that were not new, it just had never actually risen to the point of being challenged in court before. So clearly there were questions about interpretation of it. And I think that we would say that anything that can clarify is helpful, right? So that there's that the county's understand what the statute requires and doesn't require and that the voters can understand what requires and what doesn't what isn't required. Having said that, I think I could also speak for for us in that we will always seek to ensure that no eligible voter is disenfranchised unfairly. And so I think the you know, the follow up question would be Will we be able to come to an agreement about how to clarify it and I would hope that there would be ability to do that. But, you know, I think there's no question that having laws and and frankly, you know, one of the federal court judges who issued a decision earlier on in the fall specifically said that that my guidance filled gaps that the Legislature had left open. So look, I think we know that statutes are an imperfectly vehicle and that had the how and the what you know how it's done always helps to clarify. So that's, I think we're always open to further clarification.
WATCH: Pennsylvania governor, secretary of state discuss 2020 election results
Updated: 1:14 PM EST Jan 6, 2021
Gov. Tom Wolf held a news conference with Pennsylvania's secretary of state, Kathy Boockvar, and a Philadelphia city commissioner to discuss the 2020 election results and to debunk what they called "baseless accusations" on Wednesday.Watch the news conference in the video player above.This story will be updated soon. Below is the full statement from Wolf's office.With Congress preparing to count Electoral College votes today, Governor Tom Wolf was joined by Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt to emphasize that Pennsylvania had a free, fair and secure election. All efforts by Congressional Republicans to overthrow the election results and subvert the will of the voters are disgraceful and must be rejected.“Republican members of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation plan to object to the counting of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes by claiming the election was compromised, and that our electoral votes are suspect,” said Gov. Wolf. “This is an outrageous lie, and they are undermining our democracy by recklessly repeating that lie to deceive the American people." “Today, these Republican Congressman have a choice. They can stand with our country and uphold our constitution, or they can stand by a single defeated politician pushing baseless claims in an attempt to overturn an election.”Allegations of fraud and illegal activity in the 2020 election have been repeatedly dismissed by the courts, often with blistering rulings against the Trump campaign, and debunked by independent fact-checkers. These baseless attacks are nothing more than disinformation intended to undermine our democracy and our faith in our elections. Many leading Republicans, including Sen. Pat Toomey, have said the evidence is overwhelming that Joe Biden won the election. Within President Trump’s Administration, former Attorney General Bill Barr said there was no widespread fraud and Chris Krebs, who oversaw election cybersecurity for the Trump Administration and frequently worked with the Pennsylvania Department of State, said the nation’s election was the most secure in history.“Pennsylvania held a free, fair, and secure election, with extraordinary transparency at every stage,” said Secretary of State Boockvar. “We are so thankful to the election officials and poll workers, Republican and Democrat, who worked tirelessly amidst the global pandemic so that eligible voters could exercise their fundamental right to vote. Thanks to these dedicated workers, millions of Pennsylvanians of every political party participated in record numbers and had their voices heard."Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt added, “All Pennsylvania voters should have confidence in the election results in Philadelphia. Our dedicated county employees worked under incredibly stressful circumstances to provide a fair and accurate election. Pennsylvanians can be proud that Philadelphia had the most transparent and secure election in the history of our city.”Pennsylvania’s 67 county boards of elections worked incredibly hard with the Department of State, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the offices of Homeland Security, Information Technology, the Pennsylvania National Guard, and other local, state and federal partners, to ensure the highest standards of security and integrity of Pennsylvania's election process. A layered defense protects the commonwealth’s election processes, including cyber security protections, extensive eligibility-checking procedures, and state-of-the-art voting systems that meet federal and state standards for security and accessibility and provide an auditable paper ballot that voters can verify before casting their ballot.The counties are also required by law to conduct a statistical recount of a random sample of at least two percent of their ballots before certifying their results. Additionally, the Department of State and counties are conducting a risk-limiting audit (RLA) pilot of the 2020 presidential election. In late 2020, the counties created their ballot manifests, a random seed number was generated, and the audit software selected the random list of ballots to be retrieved by each county. The counties will retrieve the ballots in January, indicating the vote cast for the Presidential contest on each ballot, then the system will tally and analyze the results. Pennsylvania is one of the first states to pioneer pilots of the RLA, a scientifically designed procedure using statistical methods to provide a high level of confidence and statistical verification that the outcome of an election is accurate and detect possible interference.“Republican lawmakers can’t change the facts just because they don’t like them,” Gov. Wolf said. “And attempting to do so undermines our democracy by disenfranchising millions of Pennsylvanians.“By perpetuating disinformation about the election, these Republican lawmakers disregard the oaths they took to serve their constituents and protect their rights under the constitution. It is disrespectful to the American people who exercised their right to vote in this election and to the patriots who fought and died for our democracy.”
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Tom Wolf held a news conference with Pennsylvania's secretary of state, Kathy Boockvar, and a Philadelphia city commissioner to discuss the 2020 election results and to debunk what they called "baseless accusations" on Wednesday.
Watch the news conference in the video player above.
This story will be updated soon. Below is the full statement from Wolf's office.
With Congress preparing to count Electoral College votes today, Governor Tom Wolf was joined by Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt to emphasize that Pennsylvania had a free, fair and secure election. All efforts by Congressional Republicans to overthrow the election results and subvert the will of the voters are disgraceful and must be rejected.
“Republican members of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation plan to object to the counting of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes by claiming the election was compromised, and that our electoral votes are suspect,” said Gov. Wolf. “This is an outrageous lie, and they are undermining our democracy by recklessly repeating that lie to deceive the American people."
“Today, these Republican Congressman have a choice. They can stand with our country and uphold our constitution, or they can stand by a single defeated politician pushing baseless claims in an attempt to overturn an election.”
Allegations of fraud and illegal activity in the 2020 election have been repeatedly dismissed by the courts, often with blistering rulings against the Trump campaign, and debunked by independent fact-checkers. These baseless attacks are nothing more than disinformation intended to undermine our democracy and our faith in our elections.
Many leading Republicans, including Sen. Pat Toomey, have said the evidence is overwhelming that Joe Biden won the election. Within President Trump’s Administration, former Attorney General Bill Barr said there was no widespread fraud and Chris Krebs, who oversaw election cybersecurity for the Trump Administration and frequently worked with the Pennsylvania Department of State, said the nation’s election was the most secure in history.
“Pennsylvania held a free, fair, and secure election, with extraordinary transparency at every stage,” said Secretary of State Boockvar. “We are so thankful to the election officials and poll workers, Republican and Democrat, who worked tirelessly amidst the global pandemic so that eligible voters could exercise their fundamental right to vote. Thanks to these dedicated workers, millions of Pennsylvanians of every political party participated in record numbers and had their voices heard."
Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt added, “All Pennsylvania voters should have confidence in the election results in Philadelphia. Our dedicated county employees worked under incredibly stressful circumstances to provide a fair and accurate election. Pennsylvanians can be proud that Philadelphia had the most transparent and secure election in the history of our city.”
Pennsylvania’s 67 county boards of elections worked incredibly hard with the Department of State, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the offices of Homeland Security, Information Technology, the Pennsylvania National Guard, and other local, state and federal partners, to ensure the highest standards of security and integrity of Pennsylvania's election process. A layered defense protects the commonwealth’s election processes, including cyber security protections, extensive eligibility-checking procedures, and state-of-the-art voting systems that meet federal and state standards for security and accessibility and provide an auditable paper ballot that voters can verify before casting their ballot.
The counties are also required by law to conduct a statistical recount of a random sample of at least two percent of their ballots before certifying their results. Additionally, the Department of State and counties are conducting a risk-limiting audit (RLA) pilot of the 2020 presidential election. In late 2020, the counties created their ballot manifests, a random seed number was generated, and the audit software selected the random list of ballots to be retrieved by each county. The counties will retrieve the ballots in January, indicating the vote cast for the Presidential contest on each ballot, then the system will tally and analyze the results.
Pennsylvania is one of the first states to pioneer pilots of the RLA, a scientifically designed procedure using statistical methods to provide a high level of confidence and statistical verification that the outcome of an election is accurate and detect possible interference.
“Republican lawmakers can’t change the facts just because they don’t like them,” Gov. Wolf said. “And attempting to do so undermines our democracy by disenfranchising millions of Pennsylvanians.
“By perpetuating disinformation about the election, these Republican lawmakers disregard the oaths they took to serve their constituents and protect their rights under the constitution. It is disrespectful to the American people who exercised their right to vote in this election and to the patriots who fought and died for our democracy.”