WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Senator Doug Mastriano attended the insurrection, endorsed efforts to overturn the election results, and even organized buses to travel to the Capitol. Since those plots to undermine our democracy didn’t work, he’s now pushing for an Arizona-style “fraudit” of Pennsylvania’s election results, a farcical partisan ploy that will only serve to further undermine elections in the state.
“It’s no coincidence that many of the same Republican lawmakers who marched on the Capitol in January are trying to push these bogus ‘fraudits’ in their own states,” said Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Jessica Post. “This isn’t about election integrity — this is about doing everything they can to keep the fantasy alive that they weren’t soundly defeated in the last election and attempt to create political cover for their voter suppression crusade. Democrats are standing up against these wild goose chases and working to make sure that every American has an equal opportunity to participate in our electoral process.”
Republican leaders in Pennsylvania refused to hold Mastriano accountable for his involvement in the insurrection, even after new evidence revealed that he had passed police barricades and got close to the Capitol on January 6th, contradicting his previous claims about his movements that day.
Mastriano later traveled to Arizona to observe Republicans’ partisan “audit,” which is being run by a noted “Stop the Steal” conspiracist. The bizarre effort has been resoundingly criticized by independent election experts; one Republican election consultant said that there is a “zero percent chance” the results will be accurate. Investigators’ incompetence will force Maricopa County to spend millions of dollars on new election equipment.
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