{"id":1844086,"date":"2023-02-12T08:19:52","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T13:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1844086"},"modified":"2023-02-12T08:21:29","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T13:21:29","slug":"pennsylvania-court-wont-force-release-of-voter-info-for-gop-led-2020-election-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvania-court-wont-force-release-of-voter-info-for-gop-led-2020-election-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Court Won\u2019t Force Release of Voter Info for GOP-Led 2020 Election Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpennsylvania-court-wont-force-release-of-voter-info-for-gop-led-2020-election-probe%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1844086&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Pennsylvania-Election-1200x720-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>An appeals court in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-pennsylvania\">Pennsylvania<\/a> has refused to force the Department of State to release personal voter information to Senate Republicans for their ongoing investigation into the 2020 election, but it left the door open for the probe to continue by saying they have the power to enforce the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-subpoena\">subpoena<\/a> themselves.<\/p>\n<p>In its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/paelectioninvestigation.com\/\">long-running probe<\/a> into the 2020 election, the GOP-led Pennsylvania Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee issued a subpoena in September 2021 (<a href=\"https:\/\/paelectioninvestigation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2021\/09\/Intergovernmental-Operations-Requested-Document-List.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) requesting that the Department of State release guidelines, communications, and a variety of voter information.<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania Democrat senators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/cases\/pennsylvania-2020-election-investigation\/\">sued to block<\/a> enforcement of the subpoena, prompting a countersuit by Republicans demanding that the court force compliance with the subpoena.<\/p>\n<p>The court ruled on Feb. 9 not to enforce the subpoena and compel the Department of State to provide the committee with the personal information of voters.<\/p>\n<p>In an opinion (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Opinion-Feb.-9-2023.pdf\">pdf<\/a>), President Judge Emerita Mary Hannah Leavitt denied the Republican-led committee\u2019s petition to force compliance with their subpoena.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Leavitt wrote that the subpoena can be enforced by the legislature itself and that its constitutional power to do so doesn\u2019t need any \u201caugmentation in the form of a common law writ of mandamus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Senate Committee has express constitutional authority to enforce its subpoena,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIt may enforce its subpoena in accordance with the contempt statutes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A writ of mandamus is a court order compelling the performance of a public duty.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear what impact the court\u2019s decision will have on the Republican-led committee\u2019s election review, which has been largely dormant for the past year as the dispute over the subpoena has gone through the court process.<\/p>\n<h2>The Election Probe<\/h2>\n<p>Inspired by former President Donald Trump\u2019s claims of widespread <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-election-fraud\">election fraud<\/a> and calls for a \u201cforensic audit,\u201d Pennsylvania Senate Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/paelectioninvestigation.com\/\">launched their probe<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor nearly a year, our Commonwealth has been tied in knots by doubts surrounding recent elections,\u201d Pennsylvania state Sen. Jake Corman said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pasenategop.com\/news\/op-ed-careful-thoughtful-investigation-is-necessary-to-restore-faith-in-our-elections\/\">Aug. 23, 2021, statement<\/a> calling for an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter whether you supported Donald Trump or Joe Biden in the 2020 election, everyone should have confidence in the results of that election. That is the only way our system works.\u00a0Unfortunately, that is not the case in Pennsylvania,\u201d Corman added.<\/p>\n<p>Corman said the goal of the probe wasn\u2019t to do a rerun of the election or carry out a recount, but to find flaws in the system \u201cthat could be exploited by bad actors\u201d and recommend systemic fixes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal should be to proceed carefully, thoughtfully and transparently,\u201d Corman continued. \u201cWe need to follow the evidence wherever it leads and get real results to make our election system stronger and more secure. That is the only way we can restore faith in our voting process and give all Pennsylvanians the peace of mind to know that future elections will be both fair and honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Sept. 15, 2021, the committee issued a subpoena to the Pennsylvania Department of State for various forms of information, including voter data like driver\u2019s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.<\/p>\n<p>The department released some information but refused to disclose some voter data it deemed sensitive, arguing that the state constitution prohibits its release, while the state\u2019s attorney general said the subpoena would compromise the privacy rights of Pennsylvanians.<\/p>\n<p>State Sen. Cris Dush, a Republican who chairs the committee, responded to these claims in a statement on Oct. 1, 2021, that labeled the concerns as unfounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe politicians who are telling these tall tales know there is a better chance of a Pennsylvanian being struck by a meteor than having their personal information compromised by our election investigation,\u201d Dush wrote. \u201cUnfortunately, many members of the media have bought into their false narrative and created doubts in the minds of good, honest citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrat state senators sued to block the subpoena, prompting the legal battle whose latest major development was the Feb. 8, 2023, ruling refusing to force the Department of State to comply with the subpoena.<\/p>\n<p>According to Pennsylvania\u2019s certified election results, Biden beat Trump by over 80,000 votes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An appeals court in Pennsylvania has refused to force the Department of State to release personal voter information to Senate Republicans for their ongoing investigation into the 2020 election, but it left the door open for the probe to continue by saying they have the power to enforce the subpoena themselves. In its\u00a0long-running probe into &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1844089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[3652,4733,3728,4649,12493,4232,5836,4083,3684,6459,4324],"class_list":["post-1844086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-3652","tag-court","tag-election","tag-force","tag-gop-led","tag-info","tag-pennsylvania","tag-probe","tag-release","tag-voter","tag-wont"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1844086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1844089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1844086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1844086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1844086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}