Since lawmakers voted to subpoena information from the state’s voter registration system two weeks ago, many Pennsylvania Democrat Leaders have made wild accusations about what will happen to this data when it is eventually turned over by the Department of State.
The state attorney general claims the subpoena will compromise the privacy rights of Pennsylvanians. Senate Democrats said private voting information would be released and personal information would be exposed.
The reality? None of this could be further from the truth.
The politicians who are telling these tall tales know there is a better chance of a Pennsylvanian being struck by a meteor than having their personal information compromised by our election investigation. Unfortunately, many members of the media have bought into their false narrative and created doubts in the minds of good, honest citizens.
The reason why the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee subpoenaed this information is to cross match and verify whether or not our voter registration system has duplicate voters, dead voters and/or illegal voters. Former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale — a Democrat — asked for the same information for the same purpose in 2019, when he documented major concerns with the SURE system and the existence of hundreds of thousands of problem records in the system.
Do you remember the outcry from Attorney General Shapiro, Pennsylvania Senate Democrats or the media about privacy concerns related to this request in 2019? Me neither.
But, what you may not know is that this same crowd prevented him from getting the records after realizing what he was going to find out. Will Gov. Wolf and his administration ever let anyone outside his control check on registration integrity?
The truth is, the legislature has an impeccable record of protecting the personal information of Pennsylvanians.
Every time a constituent has an issue with PennDOT, they share their driver license number with us. Every time a constituent has an issue with the unemployment compensation system, they share their Social Security information with us.
How many times has this information been compromised by Senate Republicans?
Zero.
The idea that this information will be jeopardized is simply not realistic. Our history and our track record bears out those imaginary concerns and improbable hypotheticals.
I have conducted investigations for a significant part of my adult life, both in the military and the private sector. I have yet to allow a single piece of sensitive information to fall into the wrong hands. I will not allow that streak end now.
Senate Republicans have pledged to take every step necessary to protect this information. This includes insisting on contract language with potential vendors to ensure information security; forcing any vendor personnel who accesses this information to sign non-disclosure agreements under penalty of law; and making information security a key consideration as we decide which vendor to select.
The committee will do everything in its power to ensure the vendor that handles this information will keep private information just that — private.
Mark Twain once said it is easier to fool someone than to convince them they have been fooled. That is exactly what Attorney General Shapiro and Senate Democrats are banking on.
My message to Pennsylvanians is this: don’t allow yourself to be fooled. Don’t buy into the disingenuous propaganda of politicians who are actively trying to shield our election system from transparency.
Trust me to do exactly what I have been pledging since I took over this effort more than a month ago — to conduct an honest, responsible, secure investigation of our elections, with fidelity.
(Pennsylvania Sen. Cris Dush, R-Brookville, represents the 25th Senate District.)
