Thank you Secretary Kathy Boockvar for your outstanding service during the most hotly contested election in American history.  You oversaw the first revamping of PA election laws in 80 years which included the statewide implementation of mail-in ballots during a pandemic. Working with 67 counties, each with their own equipment and processes, you led the charge to make dramatic changes. Knowing the Keystone state was the  swing state in the Presidential election, you fought against Republican measures to disenfranchise voters. Most notable among them was their refusal to allow pre-canvassing of mail in ballots which caused critical delays in vote counting.  Then when PA was part of 60 lawsuits by the Trump administration to challenge the results, you fought back . You implemented recounts while every state court (Democratic and Republican alike) in the country, denied charges of fraud and the cases were dropped. Then you and I watched as 84 PA Republican legislators signed documents refusing to support the election results for President Biden (reported by WITF 1/28).  And to this day they have NOT retracted their signatures, even after a mob of insurrectionists stormed the Capitol killing and injuring police officers and threatening to kill legislators including Vice President Pence.  To this day they do not take responsibility for inciting that riot, even though several of our PA legislators were there! Then on the heels of this, my own legislator Seth Grove, in his first step as leader of the State Government committee, makes his priority attacking election processes with 14 scheduled hearings. In the first, he grills you for your “failures” in managing the election. Remember he and 83 other PA legislators remain mum about their role in fueling the insurrection!

So yes, Secretary, you then failed to lead the steps required to have an Amendment on child sex abuse posted before the deadline and now the Amendment may be delayed two years.  As the survivor of child sex abuse, I too am upset and yet honor your decision to take responsibility for your department’s negligence.  Thank you for taking the honorable step to resign.  But we also want to recognize that you have been working overtime for the past year to defend our constitutional right to vote from a group of Republican state legislators and a past president who has tried to undermine the work of your department. Many of us in PA now call on the 84 PA Republican legislators who helped fuel the insurrection of the Capitol, to follow your honorable example today and Resign from their positions!

Carol Stowell

Paradise Township/ York County