DATE: November 27, 2016

TO: Interested Parties

FROM: PA GOP Chairman Rob Gleason

RE: Pennsylvania’s Red State Status

On November 8th, 2016, Donald Trump made history when he turned Pennsylvania red for the first time since 1988. In addition, Pennsylvania Republicans helped re-elect U.S. Senator Pat Toomey and 13 Congressmen as well as expand our majorities in the State Senate and State House.

In recent days, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has decided to launch baseless attacks against the integrity of Pennsylvania’s election system as well as the elections held in two other battleground states. Sadly, the legal counsel for the Clinton campaign signaled they would take part in any recount efforts initiated by Dr. Stein’s despite Secretary Clinton’s statement during the campaign.

Thus, as two failed campaigns continue to question the results of Pennsylvania’s historic election, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania would like to add a few critical points to the discussion.

The Results of the Presidential Election Did Not Trigger Pennsylvania’s Automatic Recount Statute Because The Margin Of Victory Was So High.

Per the provisions of the Pennsylvania Election Code at 25 P.S. 3154(g)(1), “The secretary shall order a recount and recanvass to all county boards if…a candidate for a public office which appears on the ballot in every election district in this Commonwealth was defeated by one-half of a percent or less of the votes cast for the office.”

With 100% of the precincts reporting, Mr. Trump defeated Secretary Clinton by 1.17% (a margin of victory of 70,638 votes) – more than double the threshold for an automatic recount. Dr. Stein was defeated by 47.98 % by President-Elect Trump, and as such it is clear that she does not have a good faith basis to challenge the results She is clearly serving as a stalking horse for the Clinton campaign that once again will not take responsibility for its actions.

PA GOP Voter Registration Surged In 2016, With New Registrants And Party Switchers.

Pennsylvania Republicans realized a net gain of 318, 585 new registrations since Election Day 2015.

Fueling our growing Party was a historic surge of Democrats who decided to switch their voter registrations to the PA GOP. In total, 110, 264 Democrats switched to the Republican Party since January 1st of this year, compared to less than 46,000 Republican-to-Democrat switchers. This phenomenon garnered national media attention throughout the year.

The four counties that voted for Obama in 2012 but switched and voted for Trump in 2016 followed the statewide pattern of voters moving to the Republican party and candidate this year. For example, the Luzerne County GOP gained more than eleven times as many new voter registrations as its Democrat counterpart from Election Day 2015 to Election Day 2016 (11,759 GOP registrations to 1,051 Democrat registrations).

The Pennsylvania Secretary of State Certified Publicly that the Commonwealth’s Voting Systems are Secure.

See the attached October 20, 2016 Statement issued by Secretary Cortes.

He also stated clearly that: “The Department of State and the counties take very seriously their responsibility to ensure fair, secure and smooth elections. We are confident the November election will meet those high standards; as it has been the case in years past.”

Ms. Clinton and Ms. Stein should heed the words of Secretary Cortes, who said: “To imply that fraud is rampant – at any level – from the precinct-level to an entire city or state – is without merit and lacks any credence or proof within the modern history of elections in this country or commonwealth.

Even The Obama Administration Knows Trump Won.

According to Politico, the White House issued a terse statement when asked about the Stein/Clinton recount efforts, stating, “We stand behind our election results, which accurately reflect the will of the American people.”

After mocking Republicans’ open and transparent push for election integrity, it’s sad to see a major candidate such as Hillary Clinton plunge our electoral system into an unnecessary controversy just because she didn’t win.

It is far past time for the Commonwealth and the nation to move past the Clinton era as we work together to Make America Great Again.

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