May. 06, 2022
HARRISBURG – Following Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman’s false claim of Lehigh County detectives at drop-box locations to make sure a voter casts only one ballot would intimidate voters, Rep. Seth Grove (R-York), chairman of the House State Government Committee, issued the following statement:
“Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman’s claims of voter suppression needs to stop. Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin released a scathing report highlighting hundreds of illegal votes cast in the 2021 General Election due to no security protocols. Having non-uniformed county detectives to prevent illegal voting doesn’t stop legal votes, it stops illegal votes. Let’s be clear, disgraced former Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the courts are responsible for the creation of drop boxes without any statutory authority.
“I am dumbfounded that the top election official in the state would blatantly support illegal voting. I am also stunned by the top election official denouncing a county elected official who is using every tool to combat illegal voting in the Commonwealth. Either the acting secretary isn’t knowledgeable of our election laws banning a person from submitting more than one ballot, or she is complicit in an attempt to ignore and undermine our election laws.
“Once again, we have election chaos because one man, Gov. Tom Wolf, vetoed
House Bill 1300. Under the Pennsylvania Voting Rights Protection Act, drop boxes would have been secured, treated like polling places, and spouses would be allowed to legally drop off each other’s ballots. But instead of having commonsense election policies, Wolf vetoed the bill without reading it, ensuring Pennsylvania’s election chaos continues.
“The detectives in Lehigh County will have one job: To make sure a voter only casts his or her ballot. I commend Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin for taking this initiative to ensure state election law is followed.”