Every Pa. Republican governor candidate campaigns on election disinformation. Here are the facts.

• Robby Brod
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  Robby Brod was the Democracy Beat reporter for WITF.

Pennsylvania’s election laws are on the ballot this November.

The state’s mail-in voting system and voter ID laws could be redefined by the next person elected to lead one of the most consequential swing states in the country. All Republican candidates have campaigned on improving the commonwealth’s election security, even though the consensus among election security officials is that the 2020 elections were secure and accurate.

Former President Donald Trump started spreading lies about election fraud in the summer of 2020, and continued to sow distrust in the results throughout the contest, falsely declaring it over before all votes could be counted. Democrat Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by over 80,000 votes.

Lawmakers in Congress and the state legislature supported Trump’s claims, citing “concerns” from their constituents. Such concerns were stoked by months of election fraud lies. The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6  attack on the Capitol concluded that Trump broke the law while attempting to overturn the election. The committee wrote in a court filing that it “has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.”

Trump and his congressional allies pushed for election investigations and changes to the commonwealth’s laws designed to safeguard elections from fraud that, by all evidence, did not happen.

One candidate for governor, state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), assisted Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Mastriano signed a letter urging members of Congress to object to Pa.’s electoral votes going to Joe Biden, despite no evidence to support their claims.

His support of Trump’s election fraud lies included staging a policy committee meeting in November that gave Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani a platform to spread disinformation.

Both the state House and Senate are expected to remain under GOP control after the 2022 election. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed multiple bills passed by the Republican-controlled legislature to overhaul the state election code.

All GOP candidates have said they’d sign a law repealing Act 77, seek to mandate voters show photo ID to vote, and have cast baseless doubt about the security of Pa.’s elections.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is the lone Democrat running for governor. He advocates for increased voter access, including automatic voter registration and early in-person voting. His office defended attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results by successfully arguing against at least 40 cases of voter fraud alleged by the Trump campaign, and refusing to hand over voters’ private information subpoenaed by state Senate Republicans, including Sen. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson).

Seven Republicans are jostling for position in the crowded race ahead of Tuesday’s primary.

Here’s where the candidates stand: 

 

Act 77

Act 77 is an election reform bill signed into law by Wolf in 2019 that implemented statewide no excuse mail-in voting and a 50-day early mail-in voting period. The law went into effect for the April 2020 primary.

Every Republican in the commonwealth’s GOP-controlled Senate voted to approve the bill. It was challenged by Republican lawmakers last year, and was ruled unconstitutional by a lower appellate court. Its fate remains to be determined by the Pa. Supreme Court, which wrote that Act 77 may remain in place until a ruling is made.

All Republicans running for governor want to overturn the legislation, and one who voted in favor of it now campaigns against it: Sen. Doug Mastriano.

Doug Mastriano – Voted in favor of Act 77 as a state senator, but now opposes it based on debunked claims that Democrat leadership illegally changed the law after it was passed.

If elected: Would seek to repeal Act 77 to eliminate no-excuse mail-in voting and ballot drop boxes in Pa.

In his own words: “…using the pretext of COVID, Pennsylvania Democrats made their move to hijack Act 77 and transform it into something NO Republican voted for. The Democrat majority Supreme Court, Governor Wolf, and Wolf’s disgraced Secretary of State Boockvar unconstitutionally rewrote Act 77.”

Fact check: By “the pretext of COVID,” Mastriano refers to public health guidance that recommended people not gather in crowds and/or indoors – for instance, at polling places. The impetus for drop boxes was part of an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus while making it possible for people to vote.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the legality of drop boxes.

“While [the timeline] may be feasible under normal conditions,” the majority decision read, not allowing ballots from drop boxes to be counted would “result in the disenfranchisement of voters.”

No excuse mail-in voting has been securely implemented across the country for about 20 years. Eight states conduct elections entirely by mail: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington. Many of them have securely used drop boxes for many years as well.

Close to 250 million mail-in ballots have been cast in that time, resulting in 1,200 cases of voter fraud and 1,100 criminal convictions. 204 people were involved in using fraudulent absentee ballots, which resulted in 143 criminal convictions.

Just 0.00006% of all mail-in ballots ever cast have been determined to be fraudulent.

Lou Barletta – Campaigns against Act 77, calling the legislation “terrible” and “unconstitutional.” He supports baseless conspiracy theories about fraudulent votes being cast in the 2020 election, tweeting that there was “obvious fraud.”

If elected: Said he would work to repeal Act 77.

In his own words: “I’m just concerned how it was misused… Gov. Wolf used COVID as a reason to take Act 77 and really change it into a free-for-all where there were no limits to when people could mail in their ballots. They were being taken in three days after the election. There were no signatures. Just the abuse that came of it, using COVID as a reason, I think, showed the fraud that can be used with that, and we have to make sure we fix that.”

Fact check: This is false. Ballots in Pa. had to be postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Ballots without signatures were not counted; and just four cases of voter fraud were determined in the 2020 election, all Trump supporters.

Bill McSwain – Called on the General Assembly to repeal Act 77, and attacks his GOP counterparts who supported the legislation. Claims that mail-in voting and drop boxes led to fraud, but did not produce any proof while working as a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, and did not announce any investigations into the 2020 election before leaving office. He later claimed he was blocked from investigating claims of fraud, but did not mention specifics.

If elected: Said he would “sign the repeal” of Act 77.

In his own words: “Act 77 has introduced chaos, turmoil, and inconsistencies into our elections – forcing counties to navigate a deluge of misplaced, incorrect, or duplicate ballots, and complicating what should otherwise be straightforward outcomes… there is no opportunity for your ballot to fall into the wrong hands [with in-person voting], unlike when ballots are mailed out to millions of addresses using imperfect and outdated voter rolls.”

Fact check: There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Pennsylvania’s elections, and none caused by “outdated voter rolls.”

Joe Gale – Opposes Act 77, Pa.’s no excuse mail-in voting system, ballot drop boxes, and 50-day voting period. He claimed Pa.’s 2020 election results contained “widely publicized irregularities, ongoing litigation, and [a] massive number of unverified mail-in ballots” that nullified the validity of the vote count. Gale routinely bashes his Republican peers for passing the bill, claiming they “colluded” with Wolf by agreeing to vote for it only if it included eliminating straight-ticket voting, which experts believe favors Democrats in the state.

If elected: Wants to repeal Act 77.

In his own words: “[I would] restore traditional absentee ballots that require a valid excuse, signature verification, other safeguards, a shorter window of time. None of this 50 days of mail-in voting, the longest in the country. That’s almost two months out prior to an election… We need to do away with the drop boxes, which we never had before Act 77.”

Fact Check: While Act 77’s legality remains to be decided by the state Supreme Court, it determined the law should remain in place in the meantime. There are no reports of unverified mail-in ballots and no evidence to call the commonwealth’s 2020 election results into question.

Charlie Gerow – Campaigns against Act 77, claiming it “sent our state elections into chaos.”

If elected: Would work to repeal Act 77, and put it as a referendum on the ballot for voters to decide its fate.

In his own words: “[Passing Act 77] was on its face unconstitutional. And if the legislature wanted to do what it did, they should have offered a constitutional amendment to the people of Pennsylvania to vote on by referendum because that’s how we do constitutional amendments in Pennsylvania. And then they’d have had a choice, but unfortunately, they did it the wrong way. And I firmly believe that it ought to be repealed. I think there are a lot of problems with no-excuse mail-in voting, but if that’s what the people of Pennsylvania want, then put it on the ballot as a constitutional amendment, and let them say so.”

Fact check: No widespread fraud has been detected in the state’s mail-in voting system. The Pa. Supreme Court ruled Act 77 will remain in place while it determines the law’s constitutionality.

Dave White – Against Act 77, claiming it led to chaos across the state and caused people to lose faith in the electoral process.

If elected: Would seek to repeal Act 77 to “restore faith in [the] electoral process” and called mail-in voting a “disaster,” despite its popularity with Pa. voters and confirmation from election officials that the process is secure.

In his own words: “You have so many people who are now questioning our democracy and our elections. They have no confidence in it. That all changed with Act 77 and the people who voted for it should be held accountable.”

Fact check: There has been no widespread fraud detected in Pa.’s elections since Act 77 was implemented.

Wolf said Pa.’s 2020 elections happened smoothly and securely.

“All Pennsylvanians can have confidence in our election system and the accuracy of the vote,” he said. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s conclusion that our nation had the most secure election in history reaffirms the commitment to protecting our votes by local, state and national officials… Allegations of fraud and unfounded rumors of illegal activity have been repeatedly debunked. Those deliberate and false attacks are un-American and harm our democracy, and we should reject them.”

Election disinformation has divided Pennsylvania . voters. One survey showed 94% of Democrats say Biden is the rightful winner of the 2020 election, compared to just 26% of Republicans, even though there is no evidence to support Trump’s disinformation claims of widespread fraud.

Nche Zama – Has cast doubt about Pa.’s election security.

If elected: Said he would “support the repeal of Act 77” citing concerns about security he’s heard from people, and look to create a commission to investigate Pa.’s elections.

In his own words: “Any forces or factors that diminish or threaten the sanctity of the electoral process to a point where an individual begins to question the validity of their vote must be addressed urgently and concertedly to protect and save our democracy.”

Fact check: Pa. has already audited its 2020 election results and determined the vote was secure and accurate.

 

Voter ID

For in-person voting in Pennsylvania, only first-time voters are required to show photo identification. Those applying for absentee or mail-in ballots must also supply proof of identification, which includes their social security numbers, which counts as a non-photo ID. There are some exceptions for military members and those with protected disabilities.

All Republican candidates for governor support mandating photo ID for non-exempt voters for both in-person and mail-in ballots.

 

Doug Mastriano – Sponsored legislation in the state Senate to mandate photo ID for every voter.

If elected: Would seek to mandate photo ID for every voter during his first 100 days in office. He also suggested he would make every Pennsylvanian re-register to vote, which is illegal.

In his own words: “I don’t think it’s too much to ask for an idea when it comes to exercising something as sacred as safeguarding the right to vote in the direction of our state and country… In a comprehensive 2019 study, researchers for the National Bureau of Economic Research found that between 2008 and 2016, voter ID laws had no negative effect on registration or turnout during elections… The latest research confirms that states are justified in enacting voter ID laws to protect the electoral integrity in this Republic.”

Fact check: The study Mastriano cites found little correlation between voter ID laws and voter turnout. It also found that strict voter ID requirements “have no effect on fraud – actual or perceived.”

“Overall, our findings suggest that efforts to improve elections may be better directed at other reforms,” the study read.

Research shows about 7% of all Americans, the majority of whom are non-white and lower-income, lack a government-issued voter ID. Several studies indicate strict voter ID laws depress the turnout of non-white voters.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office published a study that found strict photo voter ID laws reduce turnout by “tens of thousands of votes” in elections across the country.

Four instances of voter fraud in Pa.’s 2020 elections, all by Trump supporters, have resulted in convictions.

 

Bill McSwain – Supports mandating photo ID for every voter, saying it would “protect against fraud.” He claims to have received “various allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities” regarding the 2020 election.

If elected: Would push to enact mandatory photo ID for every voter.

In his own words: “The best way to encourage more people to vote is to have an election system in which people have faith. That will occur only when we enact popular, common-sense reforms (like voter ID).”

Fact check: McSwain did not uncover widespread fraud in Philadelphia’s 2020 elections, even though McSwain cites false voter fraud claims in his campaign. Voter ID laws have not been proven to strengthen the security of elections.

The commonwealth saw a record voter turnout during the 2020 election after implementing no-excuse mail-in voting.

 

Lou Barletta – Supports mandatory voter ID.

If elected: Has not indicated his intent as governor.

In his own words: “While the Democrats are against voter ID laws they’re creating a vaccine passport. So just to clarify, you don’t need to prove who you are to vote but you do need proof of vaccine to live your day to day life…”

Fact check: First-time voters must show a photo voter ID. Mail-in voters may register with a non-photo ID, including a social security card. There is no “vaccine passport” in Pennsylvania.

 

Dave White – Tweeted a video where he falsely claims Pennsylvanians don’t need to show ID to vote. He supports mandatory photo ID for voters.

If elected: Claims he would “…institute signature verification for absentee ballots…” and will “work to implement voter ID…” 

In his own words: “Pennsylvania voters currently do not need to show photo identification when they cast their ballots, despite needing a photo ID to cash checks, board an airplane, and many other daily activities.” 

Fact check: Pennsylvania requires photo ID for first-time voters. While the commonwealth doesn’t have signature verification, signature mismatch resulted in 67,000 votes being thrown out nationwide, the third-most common reason.

 

Nche Zama – Supports mandating photo ID for every voter.

If elected: Claims he would create a council of advisors to determine what residents of Pa. consider to be “the most fair and transparent” way to hold elections.

In his own words: “One of the things that I understand and appreciate is the value of a voter ID, as simple as that. We need IDs for multiple things we do in life, such as buying liquor. It’s not too much of an effort to have people show an ID to vote.”

Fact check: Millions of Americans, mostly non-white low-income voters, lack the necessary identification to vote. Voter ID mandates disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters across the country every election cycle, according to multiple studies. Photo voter ID has not been proven to strengthen election security. 

 

Joe Gale – Supports a photo ID mandate for voters, and routinely admonishes both Democrat politicians and his Republican colleagues for working with Gov. Wolf to pass election security legislation. 

If elected: Would support “mandating that photo-identification be shown at the polls on Election Day” for every vote cast in Pa.

In his own words: “…Voter ID won’t create election integrity until we get rid of the scandalous 50 days of no-excuse mail-in voting that Doug ‘Mail-In’ Mastriano and his Republican colleagues in Harrisburg colluded with Governor Wolf to pass in 2019.”

Fact check: Photo voter ID has not been proven to strengthen election security. Millions of Americans, mostly non-white low-income voters, lack the necessary photo voter ID to vote. Voter ID mandates disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters across the country every election cycle, according to multiple studies..

 

Charlie Gerow – Describes himself as “a consistent supporter of Voter Identification.”

If elected: Would seek to require mandatory photo ID for every election.

In his own words: “We need photo Identification to board an airplane, rent a car, get a library card, open a bank account, apply for Social Security, or even adopt a pet. It is beyond ridiculous that we allow anyone to vote without a photo ID. Pennsylvania already requires a photo ID for first time voters. We need to enforce that law vigorously and expand it to all voters in all elections.”

Fact check: Voter ID mandates disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters across the country every election cycle. Millions of Americans, mostly non-white low-income voters, lack the necessary identification to vote.  Photo voter ID has not been proven to strengthen election security. 

2020 Election certification/Jan. 6

County, state and federal judges and public officials of both political parties, and election experts, have concluded the 2020 election was free and fair. Yet many of President Donald Trump’s supporters believed his election-fraud lie, which began before the election was held.

Trump publicly invited supporters to come to Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, and then, in a speech just before Congress was to certify Biden’s victory, urged them to go to the Capitol and “’fight like hell” or they’re “not going to have a country anymore.” A mob violently stormed the Capitol, intending to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump. Five people died. Congress returned to session, and, hours after the Capitol attack, some Pa. legislators voted against certifying Biden’s victory. Days later, Trump was impeached for the second time, charged with inciting the insurrection. 57 senators voted to convict him, three short of the 60 votes needed.

 

Doug Mastriano – Had direct involvement with Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, was outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and crossed police lines during the insurrection.

Mastriano sponsored a resolution in the Legislature to undo the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, declare the election in dispute, and effectively overturn state law by empowering the Republican-controlled Legislature to pick electors. The resolution died in committee without cosponsors or action.

He organized bus trips to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and advertised himself ahead of time as a scheduled speaker on the Capitol steps. He has described getting prime seats to Trump’s speech before the riot, and was seen crossing police barricades. He subsequently claimed he left the U.S. Capitol area after the eruption of violence, which in the aftermath he called “unacceptable.”

Mastriano went out of his way to help advance former President Donald Trump‘s election-fraud lies: He spearheaded a “hearing” at a hotel in Gettysburg a few weeks after the 2020 election, where Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani made false claims about election fraud. He was briefly in charge of the Pennsylvania state Senate’s partisan “audit” of the 2020 election.

He has been described as the “leading election denier in the state.”

If elected: Claims he would “end all contracts with compromised voting machine companies” and seek to ban private funds from elections.

In his own words: “The closest thing to an investigation we got was a small so-called ‘risk-limiting’ audit which consisted of a sample of only 45,000 randomly selected ballots from the November [2020] Election. Not nearly the type of investigation that was needed to determine any fraud, misconduct, or technical anomalies. This audit was conducted by the Department of State and did not include public input or outside observers.”

Fact check: Pa. conducted its risk-limiting audit of the 2020 election by comparing a random sample of paper ballots to the totals reported by the vote-counting machines, which produces the same outcome as a full hand count. It confirmed that Pa.’s certified vote total was accurate. The audit was conducted in 2021 by Pa. Department of State staff, county election officials, and outside experts from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, National Vote at Home Institute, Verified Voting, and VotingWorks. No widespread fraud was found in Pa.’s elections, nor were any voting machines determined to have malfunctioned or to have been compromised.

 

Joe Gale – Voted against certification of the 2020 general election results in the third largest county. During a virtual meeting of the county commissioners on Jan. 7, 2021, Gale compared the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to lawful protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, calling the media response to Jan. 6 a “double standard” and “appalling.” Called Trump’s second impeachment following the insurrection “bogus.” Opposed certifying the results of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 primaries and the 2020 and 2021 general elections, despite no evidence to support his claims the elections were not held legally or securely.

In his own words: “This is something I’ve been talking about, and I wish that the Montgomery County Republican Party would back me up when I am speaking about this. But now it’s too little, too late and you’re trying to look like you’re doing something about it. You all should be ashamed of yourselves; you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

Fact check: There was no widespread fraud detected in the 2020 elections. Pa.’s elections have both been certified to be secure and accurate and were audited by a team of state officials and independent entities.

 

Charlie Gerow – Signed documents representing himself as a part of a false slate of presidential electors, who would’ve represented the electorate “only if [Trump’s] election challenges succeeded in the courts” in an attempt to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election. False electors from five other states outright declared an illegitimate Trump victory and attempted to cast their state’s votes for him. Gerow still expresses concerns over the 2020 election, but says Biden is the winner. Attended a “Hear Us Roar” decertification rally on Jan. 5 with state Sen. Doug Mastriano, Pa. Rep. Mike Jones, and conservative pundit Jeffrey Lord. 

In his own words: “I’m running for governor, I’m not here to relitigate what happened in 2020, and I think it’s important for us to focus on the future and make sure the integrity of our elections are absolutely preserved.”

Fact check: There was no widespread fraud detected in the 2020 elections. Pa.’s elections have both been certified to be secure and accurate and were audited by state officials and independent entities.

 

Bill McSwain – Vocal Trump supporter who wrote a letter to Trump claiming that former Attorney General Bill Barr prevented him from investigating alleged voter fraud. Barr has denied the claim. Trump publicly denounced McSwain, who did not uncover widespread fraud in Philadelphia’s 2020 elections, even though McSwain cites false voter fraud claims in his campaign.

If elected: Said he would “support” a photo ID mandate for voters.

In his own words: “The way [Governor] Tom Wolf and former Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar administered the 2020 election made a mockery of Pennsylvania’s election process. The Wolf administration and the highly partisan state Supreme Court circumvented the state legislature to create their own rules about how the election should be conducted. The last-minute rule changes and different information given to different counties sowed confusion and distrust in the system.”

Fact check: Policies for remedying incorrectly filled-out ballots varied across counties, but guidance from the state was clear, although it came in hours before voting was to begin. There’s no evidence of a partisan effort to affect election results.

On the night before Election Day, all counties were advised to alert political parties of rejected ballots and update the online ballot-tracking system. Voters who were alerted of their erroneously filled out ballots were then able to cast a provisional ballot. Officials from eight counties rejected the guidance, believing it to be unconstitutional. They included Berks, Blair, Carbon, Clinton, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lycoming, and Perry County.

Some county and party officials reached out to voters about errors with their ballots, while others didn’t contact anyone. As a result, only those who were notified were able to remedy their ballots, while others were not counted.

There was no concerted effort by state officials to implement unfair ballot curing policies, as the messaging was uniform. The inconsistencies are a result of county officials’ refusal to enact the state policy.

 

Lou Barletta – Signed bogus documents representing himself as part of a false slate of presidential electors, who would’ve fraudulently represented the electorate “only if [Trump’s] election challenges succeeded in the courts” in an attempt to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election. False electors from five other states outright declared an illegitimate Trump victory and attempted to cast their state’s votes for him.

In his own words: “[People] want answers as to why ballots didn’t have a signature, and they deserve that. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, our elections, (we) need to have faith in them as a democracy here in America. We have to make sure that people have that right, to make sure that they feel that there’s integrity in their elections. And if there was nothing wrong with the last election, then why are people afraid to take a look at it? That makes people even more suspicious that people are fighting so hard to even taking a look at – can we fix things that went wrong? Why would you do that if you were so sure that there was nothing done that was wrong?”

Fact check: There was no widespread fraud detected in the 2020 elections. Pa.’s elections have both been certified to be secure and accurate and were audited by state officials and independent entities.

In denying the Trump campaign an injunction in Pennsylvania to undo the certification of the commonwealth’s votes, 3rd Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas said, “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”

 

Dave White – Made “election integrity” a central part of his campaign, endorsed Harrisburg Republicans’ partisan election “audit,” and is “a self-described supporter of Trump’s “America First” agenda.

He touts the endorsement of controversial voter fraud disinformation enthusiast Richard Grenell, who said on Twitter, “January 6th was a terrible day because it’s the day Big Tech and the media kicked President Trump off Twitter and silenced his voice.”

White also claims Gov. Tom Wolf was “caught cheat­ing” in the elec­tion, refer­ring to the governor having his wife drop off his marked ballot in viol­a­tion of state law.

If elected: Would like to conduct “an independent elections audit of all elections by the Auditor General.”

In his own words: “If there wasn’t any fraud in the Pennsylvania elec­tion, why every time we call for an audit do the Demo­crats cry like a little baby?”

Fact check: There was no widespread fraud detected in the 2020 elections. Pa.’s elections have both been certified to be secure and accurate and were audited by state officials and independent entities.

 

Nche Zama – Suggested the 2020 election contained widespread fraud. 

In his own words: “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Now, just like in medicine, if you die, if there’s an untoward outcome, what do you do? An autopsy. And so I believe that the questions about election integrity should be investigated concertedly to be sure that everybody’s vote counts. In the final analysis, I believe that we need to go back to our Constitution and where the exact provisions for mail-in ballots are.”

Fact check: Pa.’s 2020 election results were determined by multiple security officials and election experts to be accurate and secure. Pa.’s constitution does not address mail-in ballots.

The lone Democrat on the primary ballot

Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro is the only Democrat running for governor. His office successfully argued against at least 40 cases of voter fraud alleged by the Trump campaign, and experts say the policies he supports could increase voter access.

Here’s where he stands on election security issues:

 

Act 77 – Supports no-excuse mail-in voting, Pa.’s 50-day voting window, and drop boxes.

If elected: Would work to keep Act 77 intact. Wants to implement automatic voter registration, early in-person voting, and vows to “veto any attempt to restrict mail-in voting in Pennsylvania.”

In his own words: “[Act 77] was a bipartisan measure that I’ll continue to protect, and I will make sure that we improve elections by working with Republicans and Democrats alike, especially our county commissioners, who are on the front lines of administering these elections.”

Fact check: 19 states (and Washington, D.C.) currently have implemented automatic voter registration, which increases the number of registered voters and results in higher voter turnout. Early in-person voting has proven to increase turnout with young voters, but ultimately doesn’t markedly affect turnout across the board. Ballot drop boxes, determined to be secure, moderately increased voter turnout.

 

Voter ID – AG Shapiro opposes mandatory voter ID legislation supported by his Republican counterparts. As a Montgomery County Commissioner in 2012, He organized events for voters to acquire free photo IDs. He opposed then-Gov. Tom Corbett and the Republican-led legislature passing a voter ID mandate that was eventually determined to be unconstitutional and struck down by the courts.

If elected: Said he’s open to discussing voter ID as long as any proposed measures don’t restrict participation in elections.

In his own words: “You have to prove who you are with ID when you register and when you vote at your polling place the first time. So the notion that we don’t have some form of voter ID is just false… I am willing to sit down with folks who are operating in good faith from both parties. But we need to be dealing with a common set of facts, not absurd conspiracy theories that each of my opponents peddle day in and day out. And for me, we need to ensure that all legal eligible voters can participate… What I am not willing to do is allow people to restrict the voting rights of Pennsylvanians. And that’s what each of my opponents would do.”

Fact check: Shapiro is correct when talking about Pa.’s current ID laws. Election experts say he’s also accurate when describing his opponents’ voter ID proposals as restrictive, and based on disinformation about the commonwealth’s election security. The 2020 election happened securely and without evidence of fraud that would’ve changed the outcome. Photo voter ID requirements have not been proven to strengthen election security, and mandates were found to be unconstitutional by the Pa. Supreme Court.

 

2020 Election certification/Jan. 6 – Shapiro’s office refused to hand over voter’s private information subpoenaed by Pa. Senate Republicans, and argued against at least 40 cases of voter fraud alleged by the Trump campaign.

If elected: Wants Pennsylvanians to understand that the commonwealth’s elections are accurate and free of widespread fraud.

In his own words: “I say this as the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: prosecutors [and] police found no widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. We had a free and fair, safe and secure election that produced victories for some Democrats and some Republicans… the handful of cases of voter fraud – which involved singular votes here or there – were prosecuted or addressed by the appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

Fact check: Shapiro is correct. Pa.’s elections were determined to be free of widespread fraud. Only four cases of voter fraud were determined in the 2020 election, all Trump supporters.