In mid-November the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a resolution to conduct an audit of the 2020 election. The resolution focussed on mail-in ballots and passed on a largely party line with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. It was obviously a political ploy to cast doubt on the results.
However Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County Controller, is calling for a non-partisan audit of the election and explains why he thinks it would be useful. He asks a number of pointed questions. For example, were there enough poll workers? Did the security envelope work, or did it just complicate things? With 67 counties using different methods, which ones worked best? Was there intimidation at the polling sites?
Mr. Pinsley has a point. This was Pennsylvania’s first real test of mail-in ballots on a massive scale, and surely we can make the system operate more smoothly. I fear, however, that the Republican legislature won’t want to make elections run more smoothly. They will want to game the system if the past is any guide to their behavior.
See “Why Pennsylvania should audit the 2020 election,” Morning Call, (Dec. 1, 2020), p. 16 for all of Mr. Pinsley’s questions and suggestions.
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