For several months we’ve been telling you about a state House Committee in Pennsylvania reviewing the state’s election system.
It’s not an election audit, they’ve held hearings, hearing from county commissioners and others.
While mail-in voting is getting a lot of attention, another issue is how elections are funded.
State House Majority Leader, Rep. Kerry Benninghoff says the legislative election review and recommendations is expected to be issued by the end of the month.
Proposals concerning mail-in voting range from making some changes, to suspending it for a few years, to completely eliminating it in Pennsylvania
“I believe it’s the law of the land right now,” Benninghoff said. “People want to see that the law is followed, that people aren’t arbitrarily making changes, whether it’s the Secretary of State or local county commissioners.”
In Centre County, last year, more than $800,000, specifically for election expenses was received through a foundation funded by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
More than 20 Pennsylvania counties received similar grants.
Benninghoff says that type of election funding is being heavily discussed.
“Do we really want that kind of financial influence by someone outside of our counties,” Bennighoff asked. “The lawmakers make the law, the counties administer the election process. It’s a little concerning for any voters to have millions of dollars pumped in by people specifically with special interest themselves.”
Bennighoff has previously said that its crystal clear that Pennsylvania’s election code is in dire need of reform. But whatever reform proposal emerge, they’ll also be reviewed by democratic lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf.
At this point the schedule remains to have changes in voting in place by the upcoming Nov. election.
