Kenyatta calls latest GOP election bill ‘artisanal voter suppression’

HARRISBURG, June 15 – State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Phila., in a statement today, blasted ongoing efforts by the Pennsylvania GOP to undermine Pennsylvania’s elections with their latest elections bill, House Bill 1300, a 149-page bill that would alter voting deadlines, limit early voting, make mail-in ballot procedures more difficult and mandate IDs for all in-person voters.

“You have the same people who have been stoking the raging fire that we’re currently seeing burn up the trust in the sanctity of our democratic process now wanting to come and act like they’re the firefighters,” Kenyatta said, following the Republican-dominated House State Government Committee’s approval of H.B.1300 along party lines.

“House State Government Majority Chairman State Representative Seth Grove is drumming up support for his H.B. 1300 by posing it as legislation to increase protections of our state’s elections process. However, Grove is the torcher as it is he who led efforts to undermine those protections. It was Grove who organized the letter—endorsed by his Pennsylvania GOP peers—urging Congress to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 General Election results on Jan. 6.

“It is Grove who was at the helm of the attempt to get subpoena power to seize those ballots.

“It was Grove fronting his pack of rogue lawmaker colleagues here in Pennsylvania and in tandem with their GOP peers across our nation who instigated the deadly insurrection at our nation’s Capital.

“Furthermore, Grove is currently a seated board member of the so-called election integrity team of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a conservative think-tank organization that has been launching repeated attacks on the sanctity of our nation’s democratic process by posturing themselves in legislatures across all 50 states and in Congress, to lobby for the passage of bills that are absolute violations of voting rights.

“In Pennsylvania, Grove is ALEC’s plant assigned to do their bidding in the legislature. Acting as a lobbyist under the guise of a legislator seeking to uphold the Pennsylvania constitution, Grove is grossly misleading the people of Pennsylvania by using his legislative powers to draft and push egregious bills like H.B. 1300 that only stand to fulfill the will of this oppressive conservative think-tank organization.

“Inspired by the old tradition of Jim Crow, H.B. 1300 and similar pieces of legislation are all handcrafted attacks on the voting rights of all Pennsylvanians, making Grove and his House GOP colleagues artisans of voter suppression.”