https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pennsylvania-election-audit-gets-gop-campaign-trail-embrace/ar-AAMhSdt?ocid=msedgntp
Pennsylvania election audit gets GOP campaign trail embrace
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press 1 hr ago
A Republican state lawmaker, bolstered by support from top Republican candidates, has launched a push for a “forensic investigation” of the presidential election results, a review modeled on the widely discredited process underway in Arizona.
The effort is likely to face legal challenges and is still limited to three counties, where it is getting pushback even from Republican commissioners. But its march forward is forcing many to stop viewing it as one lawmaker's pet project and take it seriously.
The audit has fast become a litmus test in an election cycle where an open governor’s office and an open U.S. Senate seat — the political equivalent of a blue moon — have triggered fiercely competitive Republican primaries.
That has some GOP party officials and donors squirming with discomfort, albeit quietly. Some Republicans privately worry that the spectacle of a protracted election audit is a time bomb that not only will damage the state’s democratic institutions, but also the party’s credibility with critical swing voters.
“Most of the Republicans I know, at the very least, have misgivings and, at worst, are like me and realize this is just really a blunder of epic proportions,” said former congressman Charlie Dent, a centrist Republican from the Allentown area. “Why bring the Arizona clown show to Pennsylvania?”
Those worries have been easily drowned out by supporters of the effort.
One, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who has claimed that Trump “ asked me ” to run for governor, is the ringleader of the audit campaign and is fundraising off it.
“All I’m asking for is a transparent and thorough investigation to prove to U.S. voters that our votes were fairly counted, and that we have nothing to worry about,” Mastriano wrote in the email appeal last weekend.
A rival, former congressman Lou Barletta, who is running for governor, has said that he was for an audit way back in December.
Earlier this month, Mastriano sent letters to three counties — including Philadelphia, a Democratic bastion and the state’s largest city — to request access to a sweeping list of information, documents and equipment, with the threat of subpoenas for holdouts.
Gov. Tom Wolf and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, both Democrats, have vowed to fight the subpoenas in court, giving Republicans who are leery of Trump's antics hope that the audit will have a short life.
Subpoenas are a tool lawmakers have rarely used in the past, leaving it unclear whether a court would block such an effort, order counties to comply or just choose not to intervene, said Bruce Ledewitz, a Duquesne University law professor who teaches constitutional law.
Video: GOP push to audit election results began in Pennsylvania, report shows (CBS News)
Play Video
GOP push to audit election results began in Pennsylvania, report shows
Click to expand
“No court is going to get in the way, probably," he predicted. "But that doesn’t mean you get some kind of enforceable enforcement order.”
Meanwhile, Mastriano has left key questions unanswered, including who will do the work, how it will be funded and where such a vast amount of documents and equipment would be stored securely.