House Majority Leader Benninghoff drops election oversight resolution from voting agenda
After Pennsylvania lawmakers clashed over the potential creation of an election oversight committee, the resolution has been taken off the House voting agenda.
In an email sent to caucus members Friday, House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, announced that he has removed House Resolution 1032 from the remainder of the legislative session agenda. The resolution would have created a committee of five House lawmakers — three Republicans and two Democrats — to investigate and review the general election and make recommendations for subsequent elections.
State Republicans and Democrats were at odds over the resolution. As GOP-leaders said the committee would further enhance the electoral process, Democrats dubbed the resolution as a “threat” to democracy. If passed, committee members would have the power to subpoena witnesses and documents, initiate legal filings and impound uncounted ballots.
Benninghoff said Republican caucus members understood the resolution was created with the “best of intentions.” But he said his decision to remove the proposal was due to “muddied waters and misunderstanding” — blaming “the left and their media allies,” who he said “distorted the image of a bipartisan committee.”
“This caucus has maintained its commitment to the security and safety of our election with on-time results for months,” Benninghoff wrote. “While this is the formation of the select committee is the right policy, the muddied waters and misunderstanding of the intent of this resolution has shown this is the wrong time to run the proposal. As such, I have decided to remove House Resolution 1032 from the voting schedule for the remainder of this legislative session.”
State Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, voiced opposition to the resolution last week. State College Borough Council sent a letter to Benninghoff and House Speaker Bryan Cutler, expressing a “strong, unanimous” opposition to the resolution.
Peter Buck, a former Ferguson Township supervisor who is running against Benninghoff, hosted an event outside the representative’s Bellefonte office to voice opposition to the resolution.
“House Resolution 1032 was an attempt to circumvent elections,” Buck wrote on Twitter Friday. “We the people shut it down.”
