• By Garret Wassermann, Co-chair of Green Party of the U.S.

PHILADELPHIA – Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Republican Party proposed changes to the state's 1938 Election Code. The bill, HB 1300, was ultimately vetoed by Governor Tom Wolf in June. However, Pennsylvania's decades-old election code does need serious analysis and change, especially in light of lessons learned in 2020 while trying to hold elections during a global pandemic. The Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) had previously submitted some ideas to the public, and I would like to revisit and expand on those ideas.

This week, Jill Stein announced a huge victory for election integrity in Pennsylvania. There will now be voting systems which include paper ballots by 2020 and automatic audits after 2022.

This victory builds on years of Green Party led fights for electoral justice in Pennsylvania.

Jill Stein, and the citizen Plaintiffs from Pennsylvania, announce a Settlement Agreement regarding the 2016 recount lawsuit. The Agreement requires a phasing out of the mostly paperless voting equipment used used in the state in favor of machinery the includes a paper ballot for all voters. The upgraded machines must be in place by 2020, but, by 2022, Pennsylvania must also perform audits in all counties, in order to verify the validity of election results, and the effectiveness of the voting machines used. The audits will compare paper ballots with machine totals to give citizens confidence in the accuracy of elections. The Federal Court has retained jurisdiction in the matter to assure Pennsylvania complies with the terms of the settlement. Additionally, Jill and the other co-Plaintiffs will be allowed to appoint observers to confirm the Commonwealth is upholding its responsibilities in the Settlement.

When you absolutely, positively need to steal an election, nothing beats the simple elegance of modern, computerized faith based voting machines. You can gerrymander districts, you can conduct malicious purges on spurious grounds like people convicted of felonies in other states having similar names. You can close polling places in neighborhoods unlikely to vote for you. You can even intimidate voters at the polling place, but all these things either leave paper trails or can generate unwanted publicity.

Great news! Today we ended our recount lawsuit in the state of Pennsylvania with a settlement guaranteeing that Pennsylvania will provide new voting systems using paper ballots by 2020, followed in 2022 by automatic audits after every election to confirm the accuracy of the vote before results are certified.

This is a critical victory for everyone concerned with the integrity of our elections, and we accomplished it together. Please help build the momentum for elections we can trust by sharing this great news on Facebook and Twitter!