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Senator Chris Dush (R-Jefferson), chairman of the Senate Intergovernmental Action Committee, speaks during a hearing at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, September 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Governor Tom Wolf's government and voting system manufacturers are trying to prevent Republican lawmakers from expanding what they call the "forensic investigation" of the Pennsylvania 2020 election to a new front: checking voting machines.

This is another step promoted by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud.

Lawyers for Wolf's top election official, Veronica DeGraffenreid, later Friday afternoon asked the court to stop the digital data exchange scheduled for next Wednesday in the sparsely populated Fulton County of southern Pennsylvania.

After Fulton County asked a software company to inspect the equipment, the state’s election equipment used in the state’s presidential election last year has been decertified by the state. The company-Wake TSI, a software company based in West Chester-was not approved by the federal government to inspect voting machines, and it later played a role in the infamous party "audit" of the Republicans in Arizona. WHYY Thanks to our sponsors — Become a WHYY sponsor

DeGraffenreid’s lawyers wrote in a court document that allowing similar uncertified and inexperienced contractors hired by Pennsylvania Senate Republicans to obtain digital data from equipment would undermine Fulton County’s challenge to the state’s decertification lawsuit. evidence of.

On December 10, Senator Chris Dush (R-Jefferson), the chairman of the investigation committee, sent a letter requesting "digital data" on the election computers and hardware used in the 2020 elections in Fulton County.

Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems warned Fulton County that allowing Senate Republican contractors to access its equipment for digital data violated their contract.

But Dominion’s voting equipment has been at the core of some of the most fanatical conspiracy theories about last year’s presidential election. He said that Fulton County has a backup copy of the data that it can simply provide without granting access to the Dominion equipment.

However, Tom King, a lawyer representing Fulton County, said in an interview on Saturday that digital election data is not just what Dush wants.

Pennsylvania election review continues, although there is no evidence of vote manipulation

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are conducting party election reviews for the 2020 presidential election.

Instead, King said, Dush hopes that Sage, the Republican's contractor envoy to the Senate, will conduct a "forensic investigation" to determine whether the Dominion equipment used there is the same as the equipment certified by Pennsylvania for last year's election.

"I think people just want to know whether the equipment used in Fulton County is actually a Dominion certified device that can be supplied in Pennsylvania or not," King said. "At this point, we don't know if it is."

King said that a county magistrate who had spoken to Dush told him that the focus of the investigation was on the Dominion device. King said that Wake TSI's inspection did not cover this.

Voting systems that have passed the tamper resistance test are certified by the states. The U.S. Electoral Assistance Board authorized laboratories to test voting machines and provided guidance to states on how to maintain the chain of custody of the voting system. WHYY Thanks to our sponsors — Become a WHYY sponsor

King stated that the contract allows the request to be approved, and he believes that Envoy Sage is "highly qualified" for the job. In addition, Jin also stated that this exercise will not affect the court case or the state's rights in court.

The court debate is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

Trump and his allies applied sustained pressure in those battlefield states where he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, including Pennsylvania, to ask his allies to investigate ballots, voting machines, and voter rolls to obtain evidence to support them. Unfounded claims about election fraud.

Dush, who has always advocated overthrowing Biden's victory over Trump in Pennsylvania, did not explain why he sought access rights, or whether he is seeking similar access rights in other counties.

He did not reply to news about this matter.

Joe Manchin said he could not support President Biden’s "Rebuild Better" plan

Dush insisted that this promise has nothing to do with Trump or his attempt to overthrow the presidential election last year, but to solve the problems in the state's elections.

In any case, the $270,000 contract signed between the Senate Republicans and the special envoy Sage did not specifically outline the analysis of voting machine data, which raised the question of whether groups allied with Trump, like in the Arizona project, Provide support for part of the bill.

Dush has stated that he hopes to bring Arizona-style election "audits" to Pennsylvania.

Unlike Arizona, Dush’s Republican-controlled state Senate committee issued a subpoena to Pennsylvania election officials that did not require voting and voting machines, and other counties rejected less formal requests.

But in Fulton County, Dush found a partner willing to cooperate.

There, according to official returns, Trump won more than 85% of the vote last year, and registered Republican voters surpassed Democrats by 7 to 2.

In an internal post-election email issued through a public record request, two Republican committee members in Fulton County expressed solidarity with the Republican senator, who later tried to prevent the Pennsylvania electorate from voting for Biden. Someone wrote, "We cannot let this election be stolen."

No public prosecutor, judge, or election committee in Pennsylvania expressed concern about the widespread fraud in the 2020 elections, and courts at all levels rejected allegations of fraud, violations, and irregularities.

Pennsylvania election review continues, although there is no evidence of vote manipulation

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are conducting party election reviews for the 2020 presidential election.

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