How the Democrats will FUD up the midterms in Pennsylvania
"Pennsylvania ... remains essentially lawless when it comes to election integrity."
It is now the week of the midterm election, which is a good time to take stock of the current status of Pennsylvania election laws and the progress of the efforts made since 2020 to stop voter fraud. This article is a quick survey of election problems and potential solutions that have developed over the summer and fall, and indicates the party that has gained an advantage on each point of contention.
Universal mail-in balloting ruled legal: The state Supreme Court essentially rewrote the state election law that liberalized mail-in ballots, Act 77, and by a 5-2 party-line vote declared that a law that specified four allowed categories of mail-in voting really meant that everybody could mail in their votes.
Advantage: Democrats
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/bad-omens-for-election-law-in-pennsylvania/
Dropboxes replace mailboxes: Despite a specific requirement in Act 77 that all 'mail-in' ballots must actually be placed in the mail, and have proof of this by displaying a legible postmark, dropboxes have been ruled to be legal for the midterm election.
The maximum penalties for voter fraud are one year in prison and a $1000 fine, per count.
The additional maximum penalties for mail fraud involving a ballot are 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, per count.
A crime that has a light penalty is more likely to be committed than a crime with a heavy penalty.
Advantage: Democrats
https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/elections/2022-10-19/judge-tosses-lawsuit-lets-lehigh-county-use-election-dropboxes-as-planned
USPS oopsie: Biden ordered the United States Postal Service to create a new Election and Government Mail Services division “dedicated to dealing with election matters, instead of handling issues one at a time as in the past.”
If this new division is as fair and unbiased in its enforcement of the law as the FBI, then its creation will prove to be a boon for the Democratic Party, and the bane of true democracy in America.
It is also highly questionable that the executive branch has any authority to unilaterally create new divisions to regulate elections, as the relevant article in the US Constitution delegates such authority to either the state legislatures or Congress:
Article I, Section 4: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.”
Its creation will most likely be viewed as a mistake by future generations of historians.
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2022-07-28/usps-announces-election-division-to-oversee-mail-in-ballots
Advantage: Democrats
FUD the voters: The state government changed the voter registration form to make more voters mistakenly sign up for permanent mail-in balloting, which will add more “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” to an already chaotic process. It also makes it more likely that corrupt officials can FUD things up by selectively rejecting voters who accidentally requested such a ballot, but then try to vote in person on Election Day.
Bureaucratic fiddling and sandbagging is the theme for this entire election.
Advantage: Democrats
https://thefederalist.com/2022/08/30/pennsylvania-abruptly-adds-mail-in-ballot-application-to-voter-registration-form-mid-election-cycle/
No date, no vote: The state Supreme Court, in a tied 3-3 vote with one vacancy after the recent death of the Chief Justice, ordered mail-in ballots with no date to not be counted, and then added a second order stating that dates that are outside of a specific window should not be counted.
Advantage: Republicans.
https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article268345817.html
Zuckbucks banned, replaced with state grants and audits: The passage of Act 88 banned counties from accepting donations from private individuals, gave state grants to counties to improve early counting of mail-in ballots in exchange for earlier reporting of results, and created a system of audits.
The 'Zuckbucks' were spent mostly to improve registration in Democratic counties and may have tilted the election results by as much as 5% in those counties in 2020. Early reporting of results makes fraud more difficult, as the tradition of Democratic counties holding back results, and then padding their counts with just enough questionable ballots to win, would become impossible if the Democratic counties actually comply with the law.
Advantage: Republicans.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-expands-election-funds-and-audits/article_4d31f766-344b-11ed-a060-d7b3eda4aaa3.html
Unfortunately, the timely reporting of results mandated by this law may become a moot point:
240,000 ballots sent to unverified voters: State law requires that the ID of voters must be verified. This was not done for almost a quarter of a million mail-in ballots, which will almost certainly lead to extended delays in certifying the election. In 2020 'mail-in' ballots with no postmarks were allowed to be counted as late as the Friday after Election Day. After the 2022 primary, it took weeks for the results to be certified. It appears that once again the maladministration of the voting process by state officials will delay results by weeks, and allow ample time and opportunity for ballot fraud and systemic abuse of the processing of ballots.
Advantage: Democrats
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/after-sending-out-240000-unverified-ballots-pennsylvania-now-warns-delays-counting
Bidenbucks: Furthermore, it appears that 'Bidenbucks' from the federal government may be selectively given to Democratic-leaning counties to allow these questionable ballots to be verified, and withheld from Republican-leaning counties. This could create an imbalanced process where the Democrats have the money and manpower to make sure that their share of the 240,000 ballots are verified and counted, but the Republican ballots remain unverified and uncounted.
We could witness yet another election in Pennsylvania where a Republican leads in the vote count the morning after Election Day, but this lead slowly and mysteriously evaporates by the end of the week, and the Democrat is declared to be the winner.
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/brewing-election-integrity-storm-pa-over-250k-ballots-sent-voters
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/biden-revving-his-reelection-campaign-federal-agencies-warns-election
Advantage: Democrats
Biden clucks: In an unintentional act of extreme irony, President Biden has stated that "American democracy is under attack" and "As I stand here today, there are candidates running for every level of office in America -- for governor, for Congress, for attorney general, for secretary of state -- who won’t commit to accepting the results of the elections they’re in,"
Advantage: Neither party.
That's because nobody takes Biden seriously anymore.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-give-speech-democracy-wednesday-capitol-hill-adviser-2022-11-02/
It was exhausting to simply track and record all of these shenanigans and tricks as they were reported over the past several months. The state judicial and executive branches, and the Biden administration, have deliberately made this election far more complicated than it needs to be. The fact that the two candidates for the Senate seat were within 0.1% of each other in the Real Clear Politics aggregate of the polls three days before the election indicates that this will be a close election with a contested outcome. There is a very high degree of probability that this election may not be certified and decided until December, or perhaps even January, when the new Congress convenes.
Pennsylvania has gained a well-earned reputation as the state in the Union with the most corrupt elections. It seems quite likely that it will extend its lead over the other 49 states by a substantial margin this Tuesday.
One quote sums up this situation nicely:
"Even with the recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court victory, that state remains essentially lawless when it comes to election integrity."
https://thefederalist.com/2022/11/04/if-republicans-win-on-tuesday-thank-the-election-integrity-movement/