Election Security in Pennsylvania

NPR Pennsylvania’s top elections official on conspiracies, the voting process and what to expect on election night
Interview with Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s top elections official and a lifelong Republican. With additional comments from Lehigh County Executive, Phil Armstrong. Audio and Transcript.

PA Dept. of State Election Security in Pennsylvania
FAQs, Video “Your Vote, Safe and Secure,” State-of the-Art Voting Systems, Robust Post-Election Audits, Collaboration and Communications

Election Facts Pa (States United Democracy Center) How elections work in Pennsylvania
The States United Democracy Center is a nonpartisan organization advancing free, fair, and secure elections, guided by a bipartisan Advisory Board of former state and federal officials, issue experts, and law enforcement leaders from both major political parties who are committed to protecting the will of the people and the rule of law.

PA Dems Voter Protection PA Voter Bill of Rights

PBS NewsHour How right-wing disinformation is fueling conspiracy theories about the 2024 election
“It’s been more than three years since baseless claims about the 2020 election inspired an attack on the Capitol, but the lies haven’t stopped. With less than five months until November, Donald Trump is at it again with help from right-wing media.” Video and Transcript.

Additional Election Security Information on the ULDC Website:
Election Processes and Security

Additional Information on the Lehigh County Democratic Committee Website:
PA Voter Bill of Rights PDF
PA Voter Protection Resources PDF with QR Codes for Voter Information.
Voter assistance hotline 1-833-728-6837

New Office Location for Lehigh County Democratic Committee

Project 2025 — Plan to Radically Reshape Our Government

How Will Project 2025 Affect You
and the Things You Care About Most?
Find out now, by using this tool at
25 and me*

————

The Project 2025 Song!*

MORE INFORMATION

Give the office of President increased powers, undermining democracy
Replacement of civil servants with party loyalists
Transform the FBI into a political taskforce
Restrict reproductive rights and access to reproductive healthcare
Remove protection of the personal information of people who receive reproductive care
Enable corporations to cut overtime pay, relax worker safety rules, allow workplace discrimination
Undo Medicare’s new ability to negotiate lower prescription prices for seniors
Limit which disabilities qualify veterans for benefits
Roll back civil rights protections, including cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion-related (DEI)
programs and LGBTQ+ rights in health care, education, and workplaces
Restrict access to food assistance
Eliminate the Head Start program
Abolish the Department of Education
Restrict safety nets for farmers to ‘unusual situations’
Restrict the federal government’s mandate to combat climate change
Disband the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Eliminate funding for key public transportation projects

For more details, see the next topic: Resources explaining the impact of Project 2025, for a list of videos and articles.

VIDEOS

PBS News Hour A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors Jul 9, 2024 (Video 6 min.)

Democracy Docket The Dangers of Project 2025 Explained (Video, 15 min.)

ProPublica Project 2025 Private Training Video: The Federal Workforce (Video, 33 min.)
ProPublica and Documented obtained more than 14 hours of never-before-published videos from Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy, which are intended to train the next conservative administration’s political appointees “to be ready on day one.” The videos are being published as ProPublica obtains them.

House Oversight Committee Rep. Ro Khanna Questions Project 2025 co-author Jonathan Berry (Video, 5 min.)

Red Wine & Blue Heather Cox Richardson Talks Project 2025 (Video, 54 min.)

Rural Progress Summit Ruth Ben-Ghiat Discusses Project 2025 (Video, 45 min.)


ARTICLES

Democracy Docket What is Project 2025 And Why Is It Alarming?

Democracy Forward The People’s Guide to Project 2025 (Easy to follow, drills down into specifics, page numbers from this original 900 page document)

Voter’s of Tomorrow Gen Z’s Guide To Project 2025

Teen Vogue Project 2025: What Is It and How Would It Impact Gen Z and Millennials?

Civil Discourse With Joyce Vance Trump’s Project 2025; Project 2025 Columns Index

Media Matters A Guide to Project 2025

The Guardian The force behind Project 2025: Kevin Roberts has the roadmap for a second Trump term

Politico The anti-abortion plan ready for Trump on Day One

Forbes Project 2025 Is A Blueprint For Business Disaster

Media Matters Project 2025 leader The Heritage Foundation calls for Social Security cuts

CNBC Lower capital gains tax, cuts to food benefits: What Project 2025 could mean for your wallet in a Trump presidency

The Guardian Trump and Project 2025 are attacking the Department of Education. How might they reshape US schools?

ProPublica Trump Says He’ll Move Thousands of Federal Workers Out of Washington. Here’s What Happened the First Time He Tried.

NPR Project 2025’s director steps down, but the think tank says work will go on

Project 2025: How Popular Are The Policies? (Includes comparisons to Trump policy statements)

Also see Agenda47 — The Trump platform is essentially the same basic policy approach

Plans for the project are detailed in a 900+ page policy guide, “Mandate for Leadership,” authored by former Trump administration officials and other extremists. Donald Trump has recently denied any knowledge of the project in a July 5, 2024 Truth Social post: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it.”
Resources:
Newsweek, Oct. 9, 2024 Donald Trump Says Project 2025 Author ‘Coming on Board’ If Elected

CNN, July 11, 2024, Trump claims not to know who is behind Project 2025. A CNN review found at least 140 people who worked for him are involved

MSNBC Trump denies knowledge of Project 2025, despite multiple connections to allies (Video, 10 min.)

Newsweek Ex-Trump Administration Officials Involved in Project 2025: Full List

Revolving Door Project Former Trump Officials Wrote 25 of the 30 Chapters in the Project 2025 Playbook


Authors of the Mandate for Leadership, by chapter, former Trump officials noted:
Chapter 1: White House Office, Rick Dearborn, former Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Intergovernmental Affairs and Implementation
Chapter 2: Executive Office of the President of the United States, Russ Vought, former Trump Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Chapter 3: Central Personnel Agencies: Donald Devine, Senior Scholar for “The Fund for American Studies” and adjunct scholar at The Heritage Foundation; Dennis Dean Kirk, former Trump Senior Advisor to the Chief Information Officer; and Paul Dans, former Trump Administration Chief of Staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management 
Chapter 4: Department of Defense, Christopher Miller, former Trump Administration Acting Secretary of Defense
Chapter 5: Department of Homeland Security, Ken Cuccinelli, former Trump Administration first as acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and then as the acting deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. Currently National Chairman of the “Election Transparency Initiative”
Chapter 6: Department of State, Kiron K. Skinner, former Trump Administration Director of Policy Planning, US Department of State
Chapter 7: Intelligence Community, Dustin J. Carmack, former Trump Administration Chief of Staff to Director of National Intelligence
Chapter 8: U.S. Agency for Global Media, Mora Namdar. former Trump Administration Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs; Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Mike Gonzalez, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation
Chapter 9: Agency for International Development, Max Primorac, former Trump Administration Acting Chief Operating Officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development
Chapter 10: Department of Agriculture, Daren Bakst, Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment (CEI is a non-profit libertarian think tank, advancing the principles of limited government)
Chapter 11: Department of Education, Lindsey M. Burke, Director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation Lindsey Burke
Chapter 12: Department of Energy and Related Commissions, Bernard L. McNamee, former Trump Administration Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2018 to 2020
Chapter 13: Environmental Protection Agency, Mandy M. Gunasekara, former Trump administration official at the Environmental Protection Agency
Chapter 14: Department of Health and Human Services, Roger Severino, former Trump administration director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights; appointed by Trump to the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States days before President Biden’s inauguration
Chapter 15: Department of Housing and Urban Development, Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., MD, former Trump administration Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Chapter 16: Department of the Interior, William Perry Pendley, former Trump administration acting director of the Bureau of Land Management from 2019 to 2021
Chapter 17: Department of Justice, Gene Hamilton, former Trump administration  lawyer and policymaker serving within the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. Played key roles in ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, creating the administration’s “zero tolerance” family separation policy, and in revoking the Temporary Protected Status of immigrants from Sudan and South Sudan.
Chapter 18: Department of Labor and Related Agencies, Jonathan Berry, former Trump administration acting Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor
Chapter 19: Department of Transportation, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former Trump administration acting assistant secretary for economic policy at the Department of the Treasury in 2018 and 2019
Chapter 20: Department of Veterans Affairs, Brooks D. Tucker, former Trump administration Acting Chief of Staff of the Department of. Veterans of Affairs
Chapter 21: Department of Commerce, Thomas F. Gilman, former Trump administration Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Chapter 22: Department of the Treasury, William L. Walton, former Trump administration 2016 transition team as co-head of economic issues for federal agencies, Stephen Moore, advisor to the 2016 Trump campaign, and David R. Burton, Senior Fellow in Economic Policy at Heritage Foundation
Chapter 23: Export-Import Bank, Veronique de Rugy, Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a nationally syndicated columnist, and Jennifer Hazelton, former Trump administration public affairs official in the State Department in 2017 and public affairs official at the Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2020 and 2021
Chapter 24: Federal Reserve, Paul Winfree, former Trump administration deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council, and director of budget policy (2017). Appointed by Trump to the Fullbright Foreign Scholarship Board in 2019.
Chapter 25: Small Business Administration, Karen Kerrigan, president & CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council)
Chapter 26: Trade, Peter Navarro, former Trump administration director of the National Trade Council in 201, director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy from 2017 until 2021. He was also a close adviser to Trump, largely on trade. He also advised on the COVID-19 response and Trump’s false election fraud claims, and Kent Lassman, president and CEO of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Chapter 27: Securities and Exchange Commission, David R. Burton, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy in the Heritage Foundation; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Robert Bowes former Trump administration  Senior Advisor To The Assistant Secretary Dept. of Housing and Urban Development and Held multiple other positions, including advising Stephen Miller
Chapter 28: Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, former Trump administration official General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 2017-2017 and Current Commissioner of the FCC, 2017-present
Chapter 29: Federal Election Commission, Hans A. von Spakovsky, former Trump administration Member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, 2017-2018
Chapter 30: Federal Trade Commission, Adam Candeub, former Trump administration Acting Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce, 2020-2020; Deputy Associate Attorney General, 2020-2021

Immediately slash regulations
Baseline tariffs on foreign goods (Note: the costs of tariffs are paid by purchasers of those goods, not the foreign government)
Phase in tariffs and import restrictions to bring back production of all essential medicines to the US
(Note: executive orders issued by Trump in the final days of his administration were struck down in the courts.)
Newsweek Donald Trump Says Project 2025 Author ‘Coming on Board’ If Elected
Forbes What Is Agenda 47? What To Know About Trump’s Policy Agenda If Elected As He Speaks At RNC.
USA Today As Trump creates distance from Project 2025, conservative Agenda47 comes into focus
ProPublica Trump Says He’ll Move Thousands of Federal Workers Out of Washington. Here’s What Happened the First Time He Tried.
Washington Post Trump has unveiled an agenda of his own. He just doesn’t mention it much.
Baptist News Global You’ve heard of Project 2025? Now meet Agenda 47
Dasia Shade What is Agenda 47? | what you’re probably missing about Agenda 47 & Project 2025 (30 min. video, conversational style)
Candidate Website President Trump’s Plan to Save American Education and Give Power Back to Parents
(Note: these education proposals echo “Moms for Liberty” talking points.)
Forbes What is Agenda 47? What To Know About Trump’s Policy Agenda If Elected As He Speaks At RNC.
USA Today As Trump creates distance from Project 2025, conservative Agenda47 comes into focus
Washington Post Trump has unveiled an agenda of his own. He just doesn’t mention it much.
Baptist News Global You’ve heard of Project 2025? Now meet Agenda 47
Dasia Shade What is Agenda 47? | what you’re probably missing about Agenda 47 & Project 2025 (30 min. video, conversational style)
Candidate Website President Trump’s Plan to Save American Education and Give Power Back to Parents
(Note: these education proposals echo “Moms for Liberty” talking points.)

Pew Research: How America Changed During Donald Trump’s Presidency
Reuters Factbox: Donald Trump’s legacy – six policy takeaways

HEALTH CARE:
Kaiser Family Foundation President Trump’s Record on Health Care
Center on Budget Policies & Priorities The Trump Administration’s Health Care Sabotage

WOMEN’S RIGHTS:
Center for American Progress Women Have Paid the Price for Trump’s Regulatory Agenda
Global Justice Center Factsheet — Reproducing Patriarchy: How the Trump Administration has Undermined Women’s Access to Reproductive Health Care

ECONOMY:
Associated Press Many remember solid economy under Trump, but his record also full of tax cut hype, debt and disease
FactCheck.org Trump’s Final Numbers
Tariffs
Forbes Trump’s Tariffs Were Much More Damaging Than Thought
Brookings Institute Did Trump’s tariffs benefit American workers and national security?
Penn Live Tariffs were meant to help but Pa. farmers are hurting under Trump tariffs
Politico ‘Here’s your check’: Trump’s massive payouts to farmers will be hard to pull back
Council on Foreign Relations 92 Percent of Trump’s China Tariff Proceeds Has Gone to Bail Out Angry Farmers

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT:
Brookings Institute What is the Trump administration’s track record on the environment?
New York Times The Trump Administration Rolled Back More Than 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List.

CIVIL RIGHTS:
The Leadership Conference Trump Administration Civil and Human Rights Rollbacks
Pro Publica Trump Administration Quietly Rolls Back Civil Rights Efforts Across Federal Government
Human Rights Watch Trump Administration Again Weakens LGBT Protections

VOTING RIGHTS:
Brennan Center for Justice Background on Trump’s ‘Voter Fraud’ Commission
CNN Trump administration has Voting Rights Act on life support
NPR Trump Push To Invalidate Votes In Heavily Black Cities Alarms Civil Rights Group
The Guardian Trump attacks and vote by mail: the top voting rights stories of 2020
Economic Policy Institute The Trump administration’s attacks on workplace union voting rights forewarned of the broader threats to voting rights in the upcoming election

CHALLENGING THE RESULTS OF THE 2020 ELECTION:
Campaign Legal Center Results of Lawsuits Regarding the 2020 Elections
WITF These Republicans did a deep dive into 2020 election lawsuits, including in Pa. Here’s why most of them failed
USA Today By the numbers: President Donald Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the election
Factcheck.org The Facts on Trump’s Post-Election Legal Challenges

House Democrats Deliver For Pennsylvanians

Take a look at the details for the legislation that passed in this session posted on the Pennsylvania House Democrats’ Page.

Voting Information for College Students

Sept. 25 — War Game Film Screening With Q&A Moderated by Gov. Shapiro; Streaming Available Starting Sept. 27

The new documentary feature WAR GAME,  follows a bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers participating in an unscripted role-play exercise exploring how a Presidential administration may confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the US military in the wake of a contested 2024 presidential election. The film is a timely, powerful portrait of how de-escalate situations like the one depicted in the simulation without inciting reactions and has been playing to sellout crowds nationwide.

FILM TEAM:

  • Executive Producer Jonathan E. Steinberg
  • Co-Director Tony Gerber
  • Maj. Gen. (ret.) Linda Singh
  • Jack Tomarchio, Principal Dep. U/Sec. for Intelligence, DHS
  • Janessa Goldbeck, Marine Veteran/Vet Voice Foundation

Emmaus High School Class of 2004’s Mark DiCristofaro, one of the film’s producers, will introduce the film, and the event is co-presented with the EHS Young Democrats Club.

MORE ABOUT WAR GAME:

War Game sweeps audiences into an elaborate future-set simulation that dramatically escalates the threat posed by the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The film follows a bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations as they participate in an unscripted role-play exercise. Portraying a fictional President of the United States and his advisors, they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the U.S. military in the wake of a contested 2024 presidential election. Like actors in a thriller, but with profound real-world stakes, the players have only six hours to save American democracy.

DISCLAIMER: War Game is not affiliated with any political party. Portrayals of military officials in this film, use of rank, job title, and uniform do not imply the endorsement or participation of the Department of the Army or Department of Defense.

ULDC Monthly Meeting

ULDC general meetings are usually held on the
2nd Tuesday of the month
7 PM — 8:30 PM
In-Person and Via Zoom!
You will be sent an e-mail with
meeting room location at Cedar Crest College and
a Zoom link prior to the meeting.*
JANUARY 14 MEETING ZOOM ONLY

BECOME A MEMBER — SIGN UP FOR OUR EMAILS
*How to Join a Zoom Meeting


Project 2025 Deminar from PA State Committee via Zoom

July 15 at 6:30. Please join Lehigh County Democratic Committee on Zoom to hear a Deminar from PA State Committee on Project 2025. Project 2025 is Trump’s manifest for his takeover of the constitution and game plan for his 2nd term administration.

It was put together by the Heritage Foundation and over 100 other conservative groups as well as his operatives such as Steve Miller, Steve Bannon and his many other felons.

It is the most frightening document ever conceived and should put the fear of losing our American Freedoms, Rights and Democracy to a dictatorship!!! 

Please register HERE for the zoom link
(You will receive the link to the Deminar via email closer to the session)

Additional Articles and Videos about Project 2025

PA House passes bill to give counties more time to count mail ballots

Read the full article in Spotlight, PA

CONTACT YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS! Let them know you think this bill is important!
PA Senators
Nick Miller, PA Senate 14 Let him know you think this bill is important and should be passed, without amendments, before the November election.

Jarrett Coleman, PA Senate 16 Let him know you think this bill is important and should be passed, without amendments, before the November election.

PA Representatives
Zachary Mako, PA House 183 (Voted No on HB 847 ) Ask him why he voted no on a simple one-issue bill that would enable county officials to process ballots more efficiently and help eliminate doubts about election integrity.

Ryan E. Mackenzie, PA House 187 (Voted No on HB 847 ) Ask him why he voted no on a simple one-issue bill that would enable county officials to process ballots more efficiently and help eliminate doubts about election integrity.

Michael H. Schlossberg, PA House 132 (Voted Yes on HB 847 ) Thank him for voting yes on this sensible bill.