Staff Reports
In the latest act of battling against transparency in the Keystone State, one brave legislator is daring to challenge the Department of State over election practices. This riveting saga revolves around Pennsylvania’s elections and the questionable changes that followed the passage of Act 77 back in 2019, which stirred the pot with mail-in voting like it was Christmas morning.
Representative Brad Roae, a Republican from Meadville, has stepped up to introduce House Bill 2542, a beacon of common sense in an era where sensible solutions seem to go out the window faster than one can say “ballot harvesting.” His bill seeks to restore the precinct counts on the Department of State’s website, giving voters a clearer view of how the vote tally is progressing. Roae noted that the previous system allowed citizens to track how many precincts had reported their results, promoting transparency—something that apparently doesn’t play well with the powers that be.
Found info in Many Places,
Look for yourselves.
Because of Post Office Slowdowns (Especially In Battleground States) Some places Up To 4 To 6 Days Late. Ppl are being STRONGLY ADVISED To Put Mail in Ballots in Drop Boxes otherwise your vote may not count In some states pic.twitter.com/IHBqAEhGHr— Cher (@cher) October 27, 2020
The irony here is thick enough to cut with a knife, as Roae points out that the Department of State still collects this vital information but has decided that the public doesn’t need to see it. According to Roae, this lack of transparency isn’t just inconvenient; it’s downright detrimental to public trust. After all, if the public can’t see the counts, what are they supposed to think? It’s almost as if someone is trying to cook the figures right under the nose of the voters.
On the flip side, state election officials seem to have a different take on election transparency, spinning a tale that restoring precinct counts would only lead to confusion. They argue that with the rise of mail-in ballots since Act 77 was passed, precinct-level reporting has become outdated and misleading. Apparently, it’s too complicated for the average Joe to understand that mail-in votes don’t have precincts—who knew? It’s as if they think the average voter can’t handle a little math to figure out how many actual votes are being counted.
Instead of giving voters what they want, officials have set up a daily supplemental report that aggregates in-person and mail-in ballots. It’s nice to know they resemble a nightly news update more than a straightforward election count. While they claim it’s all about clarity and accuracy, one wonders if the real goal is to keep voters in the dark—a tactic that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the public.
So while Roae stirs the pot with a straightforward piece of legislation aimed at improving transparency, the Department of State clings to its convoluted justifications to keep those precinct counts a secret. The unfolding drama in Pennsylvania serves as a prime example of how the state interacts with its citizens—an ironic twist on governance that leaves a lot of voters feeling like they’re not quite in the loop when it comes to their own elections.
