A Pennsylvania county is refusing to hand over its voting machines for a “forensic investigation” targeting the alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Announcing the decision in a statement earlier this month, Tioga County Solicitor Christopher Gabriel said, “We can’t be in a position where we don’t have the election machines because we have to run the next election, these are extremely expensive machines, and our position is we need to follow the direction that [acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid] has given us.”
Pennsylvania Governor Tim Wolf made it clear to the counties that if third parties had access to any voting machines they could be decertified and the cost to replace the equipment would not be reimbursed.
Just days before Gabriel released the statement, Trump ally and Republican State Senator Doug Mastriano, who led many election fraud hearings in December, issued the request to further investigate the alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election.
“They should be able to be opened up and reviewed obviously by companies that the legislative body wants to hire, not that the governor wants to bring in,” Mastriano said, slamming the governor’s comments.
Mastriano requested to access the machines in Philadelphia County and York County, and gave officials a deadline of July 31 to comply with his request or potentially face a subpoena by the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee.
Despite this, it remains unclear how county officials will respond to the request and if they will grant access to the requested materials.
Pennsylvania, a state President Trump lost by a slim one percent, has remained in the limelight over voter fraud accusations in relation to the 2020 presidential election as the fight for election integrity continues across the country.
