Pennsylvania Republicans subpoena detailed voter info in 2020 election probe

By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) -Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania voted on Wednesday to subpoena the state's top election official in a review that joins widely criticized efforts in other battleground states aimed at fueling doubts about the 2020 election.

With a 7-to-4 vote along party lines, Republicans in the state Senate committee overseeing the review will issue a subpoena for information on some 7 million voters from Veronica Degraffenreid, acting head of the Department of State.

Democratic lawmakers, who are in the minority in the legislature, said they would challenge the subpoena in court.

The move advances what is expected to be an expansive review of Pennsylvania's election last November and comes amid similar efforts by Republicans in other key states to promote the baseless claim that Republican former President Donald Trump did not lose due to widespread voter fraud.

Trump's loss in Pennsylvania to President Joe Biden by nearly 81,000 votes was confirmed by multiple audits and certified more than nine months ago.

Trump's allies in Michigan and Wisconsin are also pursuing election probes, modeling their efforts after an ongoing audit in Arizona that a wide collection of election experts, Democrats and even some Republican officials have rejected as a partisan operation run by contractors without relevant expertise.

The broad array of information sought by the Pennsylvania subpoena includes the driver's license numbers, addresses, and last four digits of the Social Security numbers of all registered voters in the state, separated by county and with distinct lists for those who voted in person and by mail.

Cris Dush, the Republican chair of the Intergovernmental Operations committee overseeing the review, said at a hearing that the objective was to verify whether votes were cast by people who "exist" and to look into various allegations made about the election to see whether they have any foundation in fact.