17 April 2024- House Republican Appropriations Chairman Seth Grove (R-York) called on Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Department of State to stop misinformation websites like vote.pa from stealing personal information for political purposes following a troubling report published by Broad and Liberty.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for third-party entities to use the guise of ‘voter registration’ as a cover for their data theft operations,” Grove emphasized. “Vote.pa is a prime example of such a malicious attempt, preying on unsuspecting voters or potential voters who are likely seeking the official Department of State’s website, vote.pa.gov.”
Grove questioned the effectiveness of Shapiro’s Election Threats Task Force for not picking up on this scam. Shapiro said the task force will “ensure all levels of government are working together to combat misinformation.”
“Intentionally misleading voters to believe they are on an official government website to register to vote or request a mail-in ballot is blatant misinformation,” Grove said. “Why is the governor’s Election Threats Task Force not sounding the alarm?”
As the former House State Government Committee Chairman, Grove authored legislation which would have stopped bad actors like vote.pa.
“House Bill 1300, a comprehensive and bipartisan Election Code update bill I authored last session, would have outlawed this practice,” Grove added. “Unfortunately, Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed this bill because it contained a voter ID provision. Wolf, of course, changed his position a few weeks later, but his veto has left scores of unresolved election issues.”
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