I intend to introduce an amendment to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives operating rules to provide for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Election Observer Program (PA HEOP), modeled after the bipartisan U.S. House Election Observation Program.

Pursuant to Article II, Sections 9 and 11 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives “Each House shall have the power to determine the rules of its proceedings…” and “… shall judge of the election and qualifications of its members.”

Upon the request of a candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives within thirty (30) days prior to the election, the House Government Oversight Committee will establish the PA HEOP to ensure election integrity. The committee will be responsible for training staff and develop guidelines for official election observers and will adopt a report that includes the following information: complete assessment of election being observed, an assessment of how ballots are securely stored; and the total number of ballots counted and vote totals for all candidates listed on the ballot.

Recently the US House of Representatives adopted the Confirmation of Congressional Observer Access Act (COCOA Act) in a bipartisan fashion and signed into law by President Biden in October of 2024. Further, this has been a bipartisan Congressional oversight activity for decades operated by the U.S. House Committee on Administration: Election Observer Program - United States Committee on House Administration.

I have been a long-time supporter of election integrity and transparency and adopting this program is one step in providing the electorate with confidence that fair elections are being run in Pennsylvania.

Please consider co-sponsoring this legislation.