Questions raised about legality of proposed Pennsylvania election audit: report

Hearings are expected to be convened this week in Pennsylvania over a proposed audit of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election and there are already questions over whether it can be conducted legally, WSKG is reporting.

The proposal to audit the votes comes as a similar effort staggers to a close in Arizona amid accusations that it is both a "sham and a fraud." Some Republican Party lawmakers are questioning the proposal almost ten months after the election was conducted.

The report notes that State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-) -- an avid Trump supporter -- was abruptly dismissed on Friday by Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R) as the leader of the effort, with Corman designating Sen. Cris Dush (R) as the lead with the addition of taking over Mastriano's chairmanship of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee.

As the hearings begin, Corman is already on the defensive over how the audit will be defended and some of his colleagues are wondering about the legality of funding it.

In a recent interview Corman claimed, "We as the oversight body of elections have to ensure that people feel confident that elections were done fairly. I don't think, I know they don't feel confident in that now, and we need to provide that stability moving forward and if our work leads to someone else taking that work into a court of law, and changing those results, then so be it."

The report goes on to note that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has already threatened a lawsuit which has led Corman to concede, "We have to make sure legally we're on the right spot to make sure we can absorb a challenge, which we will get."

Then there is the matter of paying for the audit with WSKG reporting, "Corman's office has been unable to answer is how to pay for an Arizona-style audit without private donations."

That, in turn, has led state senate GOP officials to express concern "... about the legality of funding the undertaking with private money."

In light of the controversial and much-derided Arizona audit, Corman also expressed anxiety over how a Pennsylvania investigation will be perceived.

"We want credibility to what we are doing, and I think it's important that we get people involved that don't have ties to anybody, right? That are professional, that will do the job so that we can stand behind the results," he explained.

You can read the full report here.