A Blair County Republican is calling for no-excuse mail-in voting to end in Pennsylvania.
State Rep. Jim Gregory (R-Blair) sent out a press release on Tuesday announcing his intentions to introduce legislation to repeal the expansion of mail-in voting in the state that was passed under Act 77.
According to the press release, Gregory claimed that his office has been “flooded” with complaints from constituents about mail-in ballots and cited voting “irregularities” for his push to repeal mail-in voting.
“Additionally, in November, we witnessed an extreme amount of irregularities regarding mail-in ballots,” Gregory said. “The irregularities that existed from one county to another made this election incredibly confusing for voters and candidates.”
Gregory’s memo said the legislation would undo the no-excuse mail-in voting in the state and return to voters needing to provide a reason like disability, unexpected illness or last-minute absence to obtain an absentee ballot.
Gregory voted for Act 77 in October 2019 which made these changes to mail-in voting.
He acknowledged his vote in favor of it in the release, but pinned the blame on the “activist court” and secretary of state for additional changes to mail-in voting leading up to the election.
According to PennLive, state Rep. Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia), the ranking Democrat on the House State Government Committee, described Gregory’s effort to repeal the no excuse mail-in voting as “nakedly partisan.”
Voter turnout reached new highs in the commonwealth in the 2020 presidential election.
According to a release from the Pennsylvania Department of State in mid-November, Sec. of State Kathy Boockvar announced that more than 6.9 million Pennsylvanians voted in the presidential election. More than 2.2 million voted by mail in this most recent presidential election. In the 2016 presidential election, 6.115 million Pennsylvanians voted.
70.93% of the Pennsylvania voting-age population also participated in the 2020 presidential election, which is also a new record high. The previous record in the Keystone State was in 1960 when 70.3% of the voting-age population participated in the presidential election.
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15 Responses
All GOP are scumbags is a good place to start. If you can prove it, then we will believe exceptions exist.
Republicans cant win fairly, so, lets repeal the vote.
It’s getting so sad in this country….the conservatives believe trump’s propoganda….even the attorney general said THERE WAS NO SUBSTANCE TO THE “voter fraud” claims…and AG is trump’s best buddy….but these cons in office…what a bunch of redneck lowlife brainlessness..
Republicans aren’t lowlifes. We are smart! We use to use voter suppression as tool to win but those cheating democrats figured that out, so it’s time for a new strategy. Mail-in voting can be easily manipulated. Those dominion machines sent those ballots to Venezuela and Hugo Chaves’s ghost flipped the votes from his majesty, Donald Trump, to Joe Biden. Rudy has the proof or is that the hair dye?
Hugo Chavez
Democracy works when all people are given the opportunity to vote!
This is wonderful. We will be able to stop the spread of evil opinions that I do not agree with.
Also, please come join me this Saturday for protests against the oppression of democracy and free speech. If anyone disagrees with that, I will have my crazy followers threaten your children and your livelihoods.
Bravo, David! Well said!
Douchebags like this guy are a penny a dozen in the Pennsylvania legislature just ask Russ got another DUI Diamond
Many years ago Russ Diamond was a libertarian with no visible means of support. Libertarians have a cohort of leaders like Charlie Gerow who was Libertarian. They are supported until they find jobs in Republican think tanks and switch to republican party by Mercer foundation of John Birch fame and Koch foundational money. Funny thing is that the wives of these men always have state or municipal jobs that provide the families with health insurance at the expense of the taxpayers. I snooped at every Libertarian meeting in the state of Pa for years and met the above mentioned douchebags as well as others who never got into elected office. Green Party of the USA is also another Republican lite distraction and spurious information source.
Instead of competing fairly the Pennsylvania State Republican Party is solely dedicated to gerrymandering congressional districts so they look like pretzels, forcing people to physically be present to vote twice a year instead of mailing in a vote which is done across the country and even in Utah which is hardly a bastion of success for Democrats. This legislator is playing politics with the most important part of democracy which is to vote. As Pennsylvanians we should bend over backwards to give people multiple ways to vote so they have a “buy in” to democracy and don’t feel disconnected from it. Legislators like this one want to make it tougher to vote so they can remain in power. It’s all about power and little about a sense of community and participating in democracy.
Hear hear
It really is time to start holding Republicans accountable for the f*ckery they do to voting rights and the gerrymandering they’ve done. Since the 70’s they’ve done the “Democrats are going to take your guns” which they haven’t – NEVER – NOT 1 GUN. Meanwhile, Republicans have been actively taking peoples voting rights and the right for equal representative government through fairly drawn legislative districts.
Douchebags like this are a penny a dozen in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, just ask Russ drink em up Diamond
No chance of Wolf signing this.
Doesn’t Rep Gregory know that public masturbation is frowned upon? (especially at taxpayer expense)
This guy was a jerk when he was a sports reporter for Altoona TV. Bet he’s not willing to restore straight ticket voting as part of his repeal.