Feb. 01, 2021
HARRISBURG – House State Government Chairman Seth Grove (R-York) issued the following statement in response to the sudden resignation of Department of State Secretary Kathy Boockvar:
“Today is another sad day for victims in Pennsylvania. The Department of State failed in its small administrative role in delivering the ability of Pennsylvanians to approve a constitutional amendment. We now have a constitutional amendment allowing for a two-year retroactive window for childhood sexual victims to file lawsuits against their perpetrators that will not be on the ballot this spring because of deficiencies in Gov. Tom Wolf’s Department of State, which was under the leadership of Secretary Kathy Boockvar.
“Because of the continued leadership failure within the Pennsylvania Department of State, Wolf has asked Boockvar to resign. After just two election oversight hearings by the State Government Committee, we have seen repeated failures, including:
(1) Ensuring the largest voter turnout election in the history of Pennsylvania was administered with the failed and broken SURE System.
(2) Needing the General Assembly to financially assist counties for the purchase of election machines after the Wolf administration unilaterally decertified election machines following misinformation and lies about election interference in the 2016 election.
(3) Manipulating election guidance to counties in order to create confusion and set statutory policy based how Boockvar wanted elections to run.
(4) Failing to properly fulfill the Department of State’s small administrative role in constitutional amendments – leaving victims unprotected and voters disenfranchised.
“These repeated actions, that we know of, build a case of incompetent leadership which Wolf has allowed for far too long and has far-reaching impacts on Pennsylvanians.
“While the State Government Committee will continue to fulfill its constitutional oversight duties by holding election oversight hearings, I will be tasking the Campaign Finance and Election Subcommittee to further review what happened with both Marcy’s Law and the two-year window for litigation by survivors of child sexual abuse constitutional amendments, as well as ensure the three constitutional amendments in
Senate Bill 2 and
House Bill 55 are properly advertised.
“I urge Wolf to select a nonpartisan acting secretary who will lead the Department of State with integrity and ensure these massive failures do not continue.”
Representative Seth Grove
196th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives