Doug Mastriano, a Republican member of the Pennsylvania Senate, speaks at the “Let the Church ROAR” National Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020
Posted on 06/16/2022 6:42:59 PM PDT by lightman
A former senior counsel to President Donald Trump says the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race is the “most important in the country” because it could set the tone for how election integrity measures are applied across the United States.
Trump-backed Doug Mastriano, a Republican state senator and vocal proponent of election integrity, is facing off against state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a closely-watched governor’s race in November.
If elected, Mastriano would oversee improvements in the state’s electoral system that will trigger a ripple effect across the rest of the country, according to the GOP nominee’s newly-appointed senior counsel Jenna Ellis.
“I am working with Senator Mastriano to make sure that the elections are fair in Pennsylvania. And that is for 2022,” Ellis told The Epoch Times on June 15. “And then, when he gets elected in 2022, he can appoint a Secretary of State, as a sitting governor in Pennsylvania, that will ensure election integrity and administer elections according to state law.”
Ellis announced her new role in Mastriano’s campaign on Twitter on June 13 by sharing an appointment statement from the Republican nominee on the same day.
“The talent, experience, and legal expertise Jenna brings will be an important factor in helping us defeat Josh Shapiro and the extreme Democrat agenda in November,” Mastriano said in the statement. ‘Most Important in the Country’
Ellis said that Mastriano’s goal is simple: “administering elections according to state law.”
“Pennsylvania is the Keystone State, and as goes Pennsylvania, so will go the rest of the country in terms of making sure that we can get back to following state law in the administration of elections,” she said.
“So, importantly, for every state, the executive branch and the Secretary of State that administers the elections are required to follow state law.”
During the 2020 presidential election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Pennsylvania Commonwealth—along with the states of Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan—for allegedly not following state laws in administering its elections. Paxton’s lawsuit alleged the commonwealth certified the election while the state had more ballots than registered voters, which makes the certification invalid under Pennsylvania law. The Supreme Court in December 2020 denied Paxton’s motion, citing a lack of standing.
Mastriano made headlines when he hosted a Senate Majority Policy Committee hearing in Gettysburg in November 2020, featuring testimonies of former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani and elections workers on alleged election fraud. He continued to investigate the 2020 election until the state Senate GOP leadership removed him from the task without explanation.
“I’m a state senator, and I represent a quarter-million people, and when things happen in elections, and my constituents cry out to me with concerns, I take it seriously,” Mastriano told The Epoch Times in June.
The nominee said he will clear the state’s voter rolls and have every voter re-register.
“The goal is to start fresh,” said Mastriano. “This is not going to be popular on the left or right because it’s going to be inconvenient. Everyone that wants to vote is going to have to go back to re-register. I think that’s the best way to start restoring confidence in voting in our state.”
Ellis criticized a recent Supreme Court ruling on a Pennsylvania ballot certification case, saying that it showed how some judges in the highest court are becoming “activists” and involved in policymaking on election integrity measures.
The Supreme Court’s June 9 ruling, which vacated an injunction by Justice Alito, allowed administrators in a local judicial election to resume counting ballots that omitted a handwritten date on their envelope—a decision that will apply to all elections in the state.
The majority ruling from the highest court affirmed a decision by a three-panel judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which cited the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 in saying that government officials should not deny citizens the right to vote “because of an error or omission” that are “not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under state law to vote.”
Pennsylvania state law requires ballots received on time but missing a handwritten date on the envelope to be rejected. The Pennsylvania Republican Party takes the position that undated mail-in ballots should not be counted.
“This is another example of the judicial branch actually violating the law and becoming activists. They are violating state law because the judicial branch is supposed to simply hold everyone to the law,” Ellis said.
She said Justice Alito, Justice Thomas, and Justice Gorsuch, who dissented from the ruling, were “absolutely correct,” adding that the case, despite its subject being about a local judicial race, raises “broader issues about how voting rights and protections will apply when the voters or the ballots fail to meet state law requirements.”
“When the state has established these voting regulations, it is not for the Supreme Court to determine policy, but to make sure that they are holding the administrators of elections … to state law,” Ellis said.
“They may not have liked it. But that’s not their job. Their job is not to set policy, their job is to arbitrate, according to the U.S. Constitution of the supreme rule of law, and every law that they are required to enforce,” she added.
Despite the ongoing controversies surrounding election integrity, the attorney hoped that Americans would exercise their constitutional right to participate in elections.
“Make sure that you’re getting out and voting in November,” Ellis said. “Are there election integrity concerns? Yes. Are there discouraging headlines every day? Yes. But in the United States of America, we have such a great privilege of being able to select and prefer our leaders.”
“Get out and vote and make sure that they are participating in selecting and choosing our leaders who will preserve and protect our rights that come from God our Creator.”
Doug Mastriano, a Republican member of the Pennsylvania Senate, speaks at the “Let the Church ROAR” National Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020
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How do you see the PA gubernatorial race? Does Mastriano have a legitimate chance? Philadelphia has so much sway in elections there; just as Chicago does in Illinois.
““The goal is to start fresh,” said Mastriano. “This is not going to be popular on the left or right because it’s going to be inconvenient. Everyone that wants to vote is going to have to go back to re-register. I think that’s the best way to start restoring confidence in voting in our state.””
This would inconvenience some of the registered voters born in the 1870s, but he’s on to a great idea here.
In person voting gets reported last, only after mail in, absentee, and other off-polling location site votes are certified. Then the in person votes are reported. No “discovery ballots” which keep getting found until the General votes are overtaken by the Beltway chosen candidate.
“Mastriano has the same chance as Scott Wagner had four years ago with no support and plenty of subterfuge from the GOP-Eeyores.”
So Shapiro will clobber Mastriano just as Wolf clobbered Wagner. So sad. And the guy who’s in a coma will defeat Dr. Oz (a terrible candidate) for the senate seat. Pennsylvania is held hostage by Philadelphia. We here in Illinois suffer the same dynamic with Chicago.
Mastriano has a better personality than Scott Wagner IMHO did in 2018 against the incumbent Tom Wolf. Gasoline prices were a heck of a lot lower then.
The economy gives Mastriano momentum the GOP didn’t have in the governor’s race in 2018.
Interestingly enough our RINO legislative leaders toying with a ‘gas tax holiday” its an option with all the COVID funny money passed around to the states good until 2024.
Wolf the Democrat Governor probably wants to help soften any anger that might hurt Democrats this fall hey he could sign off on it too.
Mastriano has a better personality than Scott Wagner IMHO did in 2018 against the incumbent Tom Wolf. Gasoline prices were a heck of a lot lower then.
The economy gives Mastriano momentum the GOP didn’t have in the governor’s race in 2018.
Interestingly enough our RINO legislative leaders toying with a ‘gas tax holiday” its an option with all the COVID funny money passed around to the states good until 2024.
Wolf the Democrat Governor probably wants to help soften any anger that might hurt Democrats this fall hey he could sign off on it too.
I’d love to give Philly and ‘burb counties Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware to New Jersey.
Need the improvements to get him elected in the first place.
Otherwise, a massive red wave may do it.
Democrats cheat and RINO-controlled legislatures look the other way.
RINOs would rather a Democrat win than have 'their' party taken over by MAGA.
Need the improvements to get him elected in the first place.
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That was my first thought.
If they can cheat Trump out, they can cheat anybody out.
“I’d love to give Philly and ‘burb counties Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware to New Jersey.”
Not even Jersey would want them.
I’m wondering about this strategy. Mastriano is no slouch in the brains department, so he has to know there’s no way totally clearing the voter rolls will ever get past the state Supreme Court, at least not before 2023, much less the various levels of the federal courts.
There is a whole lot he could do with a committed Secretary of State though. The voter rolls could be audited and a lot of old and potentially fraudulent registrations cleared from college towns, nursing homes, and apartment complexes based solely on simple address filters and census data. That would make a huge dent in traditional vote fraud vulnerabilities.
Nope. The cheat is too bad here in PA. The left wants Shapiro in there and they will get him in there regardless. He will be the new darling of the left and next presidential hopeful.
Regardless who you put in there, the left will win.
Not in PA. Voter rolls of the deceased go back 10 years before cleaning up. This has been a unresolved problem in PA for as long as I can remember.
Unfortunately Pa. rarely gives voters a good selection - and this time they didn’t either.
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