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A Pa. Republican lawmaker’s push for another 2020 election audit is a ‘disgrace to democracy,’ Wolf says

The governor’s administration has discouraged counties from cooperating, saying they risk decertifying their voting machines and costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

Ballots are counted inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on Election Day last year.
Ballots are counted inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on Election Day last year.Read moreHEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer

HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday called it a “disgrace to democracy” that a Republican state lawmaker is trying to launch what he calls a “forensic investigation” of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election, similar to the widely criticized partisan review in Arizona.

Wolf, a Democrat, said on Twitter that the “sham election audit” being attempted by State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin) is also a “profound waste of time and taxpayer money.”

Wolf’s administration has discouraged counties from cooperating, saying they risk decertifying their voting machines and costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

» READ MORE: A key Pa. Republican asks counties to hand over ballots and election equipment for an Arizona-style ‘audit’

Also Thursday, Democratic state senators wrote to officials in Philadelphia and two other counties to tell them that they should not comply with Mastriano’s requests for election-related equipment and materials.

The four Democratic members of the committee chaired by Mastriano said in the letter that elections are not in the purview of the Intergovernmental Operations Committee.

Mastriano on Wednesday issued letters to Philadelphia and York and Tioga Counties, giving officials there a sweeping request for access to documents and equipment, with the threat of subpoenas for holdouts who do not respond affirmatively by the end of July.

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged against him and has pressured Republican lawmakers in states he lost narrowly to conduct new audits.