Pennsylvania’s top election official says 2020 litigation upheld that “elections were accurate”

Pennsylvania’s top election official said Sunday that the commonwealth’s 2020 elections were “accurate,” while saying Pennsyvlania is “not susceptible to any sort of widespread voter fraud” — and he said officials are preparing with heightened security to combat threats as Election Day draws near.

“Time and time again, in many dozens of cases in 2020, every one of those cases upheld that our elections were accurate and that we’re not susceptible to any sort of widespread voter fraud or anything like that,” Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Al Schmidt said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

The issue of election integrity is top of mind in battleground Pennsylvania, where last week, the Lancaster County district attorney reported incidents of voter registration fraud among a group of around 2,500 ballots. Schmidt said the country reached out to his office “right away” for guidance and is pursuing an investigation “responsibly.” And the top election official said he’s working with counties to provide the resources needed “so that we have a free, fair, safe and secure election in 2024 just as we had in 2020.”

Meanwhile, election officials are combating threats to election workers. Schmidt said in 2020, officials had to “scramble to figure out when threats were incoming,” while outlining the changes put in place since then, including an election threat task force made up of federal, state and local law enforcement partners and election administration. He noted that open lines of communication and clear responsibilities have also made the commonwealth better prepared. 

“So that if any of the ugliness returns that we experienced In 2020, everyone will be ready,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt committed to certifying the election results even if the winner is of the opposite political party, as did Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who also appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday. 

Fontes said the state’s safety and security protocols surrounding election results tabulation are a stark departure from recent years. 

“It’s absolutely, completely different from 2020. In fact, I remember in 2018 our greatest security threat was a rattlesnake in the parking lot at the Pinnacle Peak Precinct,” Fontes said. “So this is a radically different set of circumstances that we are dealing with, but we are prepared, and we’re going to have a secure election.”