Shapiro’s office: GOP elector plan not illegal, but misleading

Not illegal, but misleading.

That’s how the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Thursday characterized actions by state Republicans who planned to nominate their own electors following the 2020 presidential election in which their candidate lost.

The statement emerged as those plans are coming under increased scrutiny, including the involvement of former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta — he and Democrat Shapiro are seeking their respective parties’ nominations for governor in this year’s race.

As Shapiro’s office pointed out, Pennsylvania Republicans made no secret during the 2020 election certification process that they planned to nominate their own slate of electors and submit their own ballots to perpetuate “the Big Lie” that Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in the Keystone State.

The final tally showed that Biden bested Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes.

Shapiro’s office said the Republicans’ “fake ballots” for electors included a conditional clause that they were only to be used if a court overturned the results in Pennsylvania — which did not happen.

Barletta was among Pennsylvania Republicans who signed the conditional ballots “just in case.”

“Though their rhetoric and policy were intentionally misleading and purposefully damaging to our democracy, based on our initial review, our office does not believe this meets the legal standards for forgery,” Shapiro’s office stated.

As an MSNBC report pointed out, “the caveats mattered,” and likely saved Republicans in Pennsylvania and New Mexico from criminal investigation.

A Barletta campaign spokesman addressed the issue in a statement from their office.

“The language of the Pennsylvania document clearly states that this was done in case it was later determined that different electors were needed. It was sent to the governor, sent to the National Archives, and the Pennsylvania Republican Party tweeted about it, so it was something that was placed clearly on the public record,” the statement indicates.

“At the time there were still outstanding issues and pending litigation with respect to the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. To this day, millions of people have legitimate questions about that election,” the statement adds.

No evidence of widespread election fraud has been found in Pennsylvania, despite repeated false claims by Trump and his surrogates in the state.

In fact, the only people charged with voter fraud in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election have all been Republicans: A Delaware County man admitted voting for Trump on behalf of his dead mother; a Chester County man admitted attempting to vote a second time as his son, and was disqualified from voting again under a plea deal; and a Forty Fort man pleaded guilty to a third-degree misdeanor charge of violations relating to absentee or mail-in ballots for using his deceased mother’s name on an application for an absentee ballot.

According to the Associated Press, The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection last week subpoenaed more than a dozen individuals who it says falsely tried to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election in seven swing states.

The panel is demanding information and testimony from 14 people who it says allegedly met and submitted false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to a letter from Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s Democratic chairman. Biden won all seven states.

Unlike in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, Republicans in the other five states certified that they were their state’s duly elected and qualified electors, the AP noted.