HARRISBURG—The following statement is in direct response to Sen. Dave McCormick's claims about the Chester County voter rolls incident and can be attributed to the ACLU of Pennsylvania, New Pennsylvania Project, and the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania:
Sen. McCormick’s recent comments were a gross attack on both Chester County voters and election officials, but his failure to understand the facts about Pennsylvania elections shouldn't be surprising, given that he doesn't even live in our state. Call it a misaccount or a misunderstanding—we call it deliberate distortion. We won’t let McCormick gaslight Pennsylvania voters.
The real story: Chester County made an administrative mistake in leaving third-party and unaffiliated voters off the voter rolls, but all those voters were given the opportunity to vote with a provisional ballot on Election Day. The provisional ballot process in Pennsylvania is rigorous, with many checks along the way to ensure a voter’s eligibility. Our elections are accurate, safe, and secure—this error actually demonstrates that. Despite the mistake, all impacted voters still had the ability to vote, and 96% of provisional ballots were ultimately counted as eligible votes. Chester County election officials properly and efficiently used the fail-safes in our election system to preserve the constitutional rights of Pennsylvanians in their county.
The SAVE Act won’t protect us from the blatant lies about our elections. The only thing it will do is disenfranchise millions of eligible voters who can’t meet its extreme voter ID requirements, mandating a birth certificate or passport as proof of citizenship. This includes lower-income Americans, Black and brown voters, students, people with disabilities who struggle to access these documents, and anyone whose legal name differs from their birth certificate—especially married people and gender-diverse individuals.
We kindly request that Sen. McCormick, who sits on his Connecticut perch with very little understanding of elections in our commonwealth, refrain from speaking on their integrity. We stand with Chester County election officials and all Pennsylvania voters who have a right to participate in democracy and have their voice heard.
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