Governor-elect Josh Shapiro’s pick to oversee elections in Pennsylvania says it’s a “false choice” to have to decide between improving voter access and improving election integrity.
“It’s very possible to do both,” Al Schmidt said in an exclusive interview with NBC10, his first television interview as Shapiro’s nominee for Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth.
In choosing the former Philadelphia Republican city commissioner, Shapiro – a Democrat - said he was keeping his promise to nominate a “pro-democracy Secretary of the Commonwealth.”
“Al Schmidt has a proven track record of defending our democracy, protecting voting rights, and standing up to extremism – even in the face of grave threats – and I am proud to nominate him to be Pennsylvania’s next Secretary of the Commonwealth,” Shapiro said in a statement.
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Schmidt was the only Republican on the board that oversees elections in Philadelphia during the 2020 Presidential election, when Philadelphia and the swing state of Pennsylvania were in the spotlight as votes were counted.
“I think 2020 was a good preparation for sort of where we are right now and being aware of, you know, all the misinformation, disinformation out there and efforts to undermine confidence in elections,” Schmidt said. “And I think it’s important we do everything we can to restore confidence in elections so that voters can vote, they can vote with confidence, however they choose to vote regardless of their party affiliation.”
In 2020, Schmidt was the target of criticism by then-President Donald Trump and threats from others. Asked about his thoughts on getting back into election administration work on an even bigger stage, Schmidt said his experience wasn’t unique and that the threats came from the deluge of “misinformation and lies about the election that were causing people to act out in one way or another.” Schmidt also said his family is dedicated to public service.
If confirmed by two-thirds of the Pennsylvania Senate, Schmidt as secretary would oversee elections during the upcoming 2024 Presidential election, when Pennsylvania will likely again be in the spotlight. Schmidt said changes to allow county election officials to start processing mail-in ballots before Election Day – known as pre-canvassing - tops his list of things to get done before the 2024 election.
“The more that we can reduce the time between the last vote being cast and the last vote being counted, the better,” Schmidt said. “Because it’s really in that window of time that so many bad faith efforts occur to undermine confidence in election results from candidates who are going to lose.”
County election officials – both Democrat and Republican – have pushed pre-canvassing but Pennsylvania legislators have so far not come to an agreement to allow it. In the upcoming session, Republican lawmakers are hoping to push forward a constitutional amendment regarding voter ID.
Asked whether he thinks Pennsylvania needs additional voter ID, Schmidt didn’t directly answer but did offer skepticism about the method legislators are using.
“I don’t know that constitutional amendments are the right way to change the election code,” Schmidt said. “I think that’s best done in the legislature between the, you know, the general assembly, the senate and the governor. I don’t know that trying to run around the legislative process is the right way to improve elections.”
