York County News

In response to hastily conceived legislation by House Democrats to majorly alter Pennsylvania elections, the York County delegation of House Republicans, consisting of Appropriations Chairman Seth Grove (R-Dover) and Reps. Kate Klunk (R-Hanover), Mike Jones (R-York Township), Joe D’Orsie (R-Manchester), Wendy Fink (R-Red Lion), and Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg), issued a statement.

“As the calendar pushes toward mid-October, House Democrats attempted in unprecedented fashion to significantly alter election law in Pennsylvania under the cover of darkness. It is a move local election officials and voters alike collectively denounce."

The Republican representatives detailed that just before midnight on Wednesday, the Democrat-led House Appropriations Committee advanced a comprehensive amendment to an Election Code bill. This measure was brought before the committee with no time for review, and a House vote was forced on members less than 12 hours later. The members were denied adequate time to read the bill themselves or consult with their local election officials and voters.

“The bill was problematic on every conceivable level and would have been effective immediately if it became law," they stated. "The complete lack of time would have put election officials in an impossible situation to implement last-minute changes. The establishment of lifetime mail-in voting would have resulted in voters applying for a mail-in ballot in one election cycle being forced to vote by mail in perpetuity with little option to vote in-person at the polls."

The statement noted that although the bill ultimately failed in the House, the late-night actions by House Democrats were seen as an attempt to make significant policy changes without proper scrutiny.

“While the bill did include a watered-down version of voter identification requirement, the proposed changes to election processes and procedures, as written, would have disenfranchised millions of in-person voters," they added. "There was no way, in good conscience, we could support the bill. The proposed bill was so egregious even many of our colleagues on the other side of aisle stuck with the Republican delegation in opposition of the bill."

They concluded by criticizing what they described as a sequence of deceptive actions by House Democrats: “This is yet another stop in the Democrats’ sequence of deception, dysfunction and disservice to Pennsylvanians. House Democrats are months past due on the budget, unable to find bipartisan consensus and are alienating at least half of the state in an attempt to maintain power.”

York County Republican Delegation

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Media Contact: Greg Gross

717.260.6374