On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s electoral votes from the 2020 election.
Thompson, R-Pa., spoke against the measure on the House floor early Thursday morning, hours after the certification process was halted due to a pro-Trump mob overrunning the U.S. Capitol.
The electoral votes were certified, and President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in on Jan. 20.
While denouncing the violence at the Capitol, Thompson noted that he would not remain silent about the election. His vote against certification was related to what he called election abuses and an uneven application of the law, rather than related to Biden himself.
Thompson said he has taken an oath to uphold the constitution, and felt that he was doing so by opposing the certification.
“While systemic voter fraud was not something proven, we have witnessed a systemic failure in the application of Pennsylvania’s voting law when it comes to the 2020 general election,” the congressman said. “In late 2019, the Commonwealth revisited and modernized its election law with the bipartisan Act 77.”
Act 77 is the election reform law in Pennsylvania which allowed mail-in voting.
“Granted, in late 2019 the Commonwealth’s legislature did not have the foresight to anticipate how COVID-19 would present challenges to voting, it is not up to the governor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, nor State Supreme Court to unilaterally create law,” Thompson continued.
The congressman said the “clearly unconstitutional” actions impacted the election in several ways, including eroding citizens’ faith in the electoral process.
He listed what he called irregularities in the Pennsylvania election, citing things like uneven application of the law, ballot curing, accepting ballots beyond the deadline and interfering with poll watcher access. Much of what he cited had been raised in post-election lawsuits, which failed.
Thompson said he had serious concerns about future elections, and called on legislators in Harrisburg to “conduct an investigation and audit to ensure such negligence will be prevented in future elections. Only with equal application of the law will the voters of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have certainty in their election processes.”
The congressman concluded his remarks with a commitment to equal application of the law.
“If our election integrity is compromised, we have failed the very voters who have sent us here to defend the Constitution.”
