State Rep. David Rowe, R-East Buffalo Township, traveled up from his district, which encompasses parts of Union and Synder counties, to speak to the Williamsport-Lycoming County Council of Republican Women about state politics and ballot questions ahead of Tuesday’s election.

Rowe, a General Assembly freshman, focused on convincing the meeting’s attendants to vote yes to all four ballot questions. However, he also spent a considerable amount of time discussing election integrity.

“We want to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Rowe said.

According to Rowe, Gov. Tom Wolf and the state Supreme Court changed election law to their advantage before last year’s General Election, Rowe said. Wolf put prepaid postage on all ballots and extended the deadline until which they could be received and counted and also revoked the need to have signatures match on ballots.

Rowe cited the legal battle between State Sen. James Brewster and challenger Nicole Ziccarelli. Brewster won the election to represent parts of Allegheny County and Westmoreland County by 69 votes; however, Allegheny County ruled mail-in ballots without a date on the envelope would count while Westmoreland County ruled they would not.

Had the undated votes in Allegheny County not been counted, Ziccarelli would have won the election, Rowe claimed.

Rowe said there are several other ideas and bills in the works that could help strengthen election integrity — including adding watermarks over ballots, reinstating a signature match for a vote to be counted and requiring voter ID with a scannable barcode with free reissuances from the state.

Among these concerns, Rowe said county personnel, and not nursing home workers, should be responsible for helping the elderly vote to prevent staff from voting on behalf of the elderly.

Finally, he said third party money, such as from private corporations like Facebook that encourage people to vote, should be distributed “proportionally and equitably” across the state, and not be hyper-focused in one area.

The Taxpayer Protection Act would limit the state government’s size and cost from growing faster than the economy, which Rowe identified as an issue contributing to budget problems.

“You can’t just plug a hole in a budget for a year. That hole does not go away next year,” Rowe said.

The act would place a limit based on the percentage of population growth and the consumer price index, and that it receives support from across the political aisle.

According to unofficial results, Lycoming County voters largely voted yes for all four ballot questions, matching voters statewide.

The first two ballot questions require a vote by the General Assembly to extend a governor’s emergency declaration beyond 21 days and allow the General Assembly to terminate an emergency declaration by simple majority.

Rowe said the governor did not consult the General Assembly when the Commonwealth went into lockdown in response to the pandemic. According to Rowe, this resulted in uninformed decisions — such as allowing palette manufacturers to remain open but preventing the sawmills that supply the manufacturers from remaining open.

He said the third question on the ballot, which amends the state constitution by adding a section providing equality of rights under the law shall not be denied because of an individual’s race or ethnicity, is mostly a housekeeping matter to allow for parity between state statute and the federal constitution.

“Some were worried it would give illegals the right to vote,” Rowe said. But he denied this, saying the constitution relegates that right to citizens.

Finally, Rowe encouraged voters to support a referendum that would allow the state to open up a loan program to non-volunteer fire departments to allow them to purchase equipment.

He said this is not a grant program and does not take money away from volunteer departments.