Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/House/Counting Electoral Votes/Pennsylvania Objection Debate/Budd Speech
Mr. Budd. Madam Speaker, mob violence is not representative of our country or of this building. The American people—at least the ones who are still up watching right now—have seen this body return to a peaceful debate. And that is the American way. So let’s get back to that debate and let’s talk for a moment about Pennsylvania.
For decades, absentee voting was reserved for members of the military and citizens who are medically or physically unable to get to the polls. But in 2019, Pennsylvania dramatically increased the amount of ballots that would be cast in the Presidential election through expanded, no-excuse, mail-in voting.
On September 17, Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled Supreme Court violated the Constitution by extending the deadline to receive mail-in ballots. Article II states that legislatures, not the courts, determine the time, manner, and place of their States’ elections. But Pennsylvania’s high court directed the State officials to assume that non-postmarked ballots were received on time without any evidence that they were sent before election day.
On October 23, while early voting was already underway, the State supreme court ruled that election officials did not have to authenticate signatures for mail-in ballots.
To sum it up, Pennsylvania officials illegally did three critical things:
One, they radically expanded vote by mail for virtually any reason.
Two, they removed restrictions when a ballot can be sent in.
Three, they removed signature verification on those very ballots.
Just this week, the Pennsylvania Senate pleaded with Members of this body to delay certification until the Supreme Court resolves these disputes. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania violated their own constitution. They violated the U.S. Constitution. They opened the door for thousands of unverifiable ballots.
Because they failed to guarantee the integrity of their votes, I cannot consent to accepting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.