PA GOP should tie election reform to budget, Trump says

Editor's note: this story has been updated to add a statement from the Wolf administration.

As Pennsylvania’s budget appears at an impasse heading into a Friday deadline, former President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to use “Election Integrity measures” as leverage while boosting his choice for governor.

Wednesday’s statement on Trump’s official website came the same day news broke that top Republican lawmakers expected to work out a $42 billion budget for 2022-2023with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.

Without new budget legislation signed into law by the Friday deadline, the state will lose the authority to make some payments, although a stalemate must typically last several weeks before any effect on services is felt, the Associated press reported Wednesday.

Trump praised a bill introduced by state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor, to increase the number of  poll watchers in elections and called on Republicans to “get tough and smart” during budget talks.

“The Poll Watcher Empowerment Act, which will bring transparency back to the election process and make sure there is no counting in back rooms, such as in Philadelphia, where they cheat, cheat, cheat! This, and other Election Integrity measures like banning drop boxes, no private funding, Voter ID, and same day voting with paper ballots, should be tied to the State Budget. Republicans must get tough and smart if they want to win (easily) Pennsylvania!,” Trump said.

The allegations toward Philadelphia are among many unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud Trump has continuously pushed since his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election.

No-excuse mail-in voting allowed through Act 77 of 2019 was a particular focus for Republican candidates during this year’s primary race for statewide races.

Mastriano, the Franklin County lawmakerrunning against Democrat Josh Shapiro in November, has long been a supporter of Trump’s voter fraud claims and has proposed sweeping changes to voting in the commonwealth.

Trump specifically noted Mastriano’s focus on election reform as a key reason for hislast-minute endorsement over the eight other GOP hopefuls less than a week before the May 17 primary.

Mastriano won the Republican nomination, taking nearly 43% of the 1.34 million votes cast in the GOP race.

“We will secure elections in Pennsylvania! Thank you for supporting our legislation, President Trump,” Mastriano responded in a Twitter post Wednesday evening.

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The Associated Press reported this week that budget talks are currently being conducted behind closed doors but revolved around new aid for public schools.

Wolf originally asked in February for $1.8 billion for public education, however, that funding will likely land around $800 million.

Among other concessions Republicans are expected to push for is an agreement on legislation restricting third-party funding for elections.

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Private grant funding from nonprofit groups to help counties facilitate elections was an issue raised during a House Jan. 21, 2021 hearing on Department of State election guidance, one in a series of hearings on the state’s electoral process.

At least two Republican lawmakers raised concerns over grant funding from groups like the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) to county election offices in 2020.

CTCL distributed $350 million in grants to nearly 2,500 counties across 49 states to be used for various expenses, including keeping in-person polling places open amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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The majority of that grant funding, about $250 million, came from Priscilla Chan and her husband and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg.

While there were allusions to special interests influencing elections through those grants during the 2021 hearing, grants like these took on the moniker “Zuck Bucks” on the campaign trail and were denounced by Mastriano and other Republican candidates across the ballot in May.

Former Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar testified that the conditions of the grants were between the counties and CTCL, but added that she “didn’t think any county agreed to anything that they didn’t want to do otherwise.”

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Shapiro has previously denounced several voting reforms that would curtail mail-in ballots, require voter ID laws and other laws that are often heralded by Republicans as safeguards against fraud.

Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Marisa Nahem pushed back on Mastriano’s poll watcher bill in a statement Thursday.

“Mastriano proves every day why he is the most dangerous gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania history — more extreme than even Trump himself — and one of his top priorities is undermining our democracy. Mastriano couldn’t be more out-of-touch, and is wholly unqualified to be the next Governor of Pennsylvania,” Nahem said.

Pennsylvania Press Secretary Elizabeth Rementer said in a statement Thursday night the governor was focused on "finalizing a budget that moves Pennsylvania forward and makes needed and historic investments in education."

"The administration is disappointed to see that the former president is continuing to further the same election lies that have undermined confidence in our democratic process, and directly led to the attacks on our nation’s Capitol on January 6. It is long past time for this nonsense to stop, and Senator Mastriano’s continued efforts to further these lies legislatively are just one of many reasons he is not qualified to be governor."

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: GOP should leverage election reform in budget stalemate, Trump says