If an elected official asked for your personal information including your driver’s license number and the last four digits of your Social Security number, you undoubtedly would ask, “Who is going to see this personal information?”

If the response is, “Well, I just am not quite sure yet, but, trust me, the information will be secure.”

I don’t know about you, but my response would be a swift and decisive “no.”

Let’s take it one step further. Suppose after I flat-out refused to provide this information I then found out that I had no choice - the decision is not mine to make. Now what?

Well, this is essentially what a state Senate committee is asking in its quest to resurrect questions about the nearly year-old 2020 presidential election.

The seven Republicans on the 11-member Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee say they need the information to verify the identity of every resident who voted in person and by mail in the November 2020 and May 2021 elections.

If it gets this information, it will turn it over to a still-unnamed third-party vendor to conduct what has been described as a “forensic audit.”

Since the Department of State refused to participate in the committee’s dubious investigation, committee chair Cris Dush, R-Tioga, said the committee had no alternative except to use its subpoena powers.

The request to every one of the state’s 67 election boards asks for the names, addresses, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers of the millions of Pennsylvanians, who voted in the two elections.

The committee directive also asks for all emails and other communications between the State Department and local election boards and any material that gives instructions to poll workers. And it wants this massive amount of information by this Friday.

Among the affirming votes were those of David Argall, R-Schuylkill, and Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, who was stripped of the chairmanship of this committee by Senate Pro-Tem Jake Corman, R-Centre.

During the committee hearing, Steve Santasiero, D-Bucks, questioned Dush’s motives, which brought an angry response from the committee chair. After taking the vote, Dush abruptly ended the meeting while some Democrats were calling out to make comments and ask additional questions.

Corman asked Democrats what they were “scared of.” He said the public is concerned about how the 2020 election was conducted, and the audit will help address those concerns. Mind you, this is after there have been two audits already and any number of failed lawsuits, including two which made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Conducting the audit the Republicans want is sure to far eclipse the estimated $6 million cost of the recently completed audit in Maricopa County, Arizona.

When asked where the money will come from, Dush said it would be paid for by funds appropriated to an account controlled by Senate Republicans. Just so there is no misunderstanding - these are taxpayer funds.

Earlier, Mastriano had struck out on his own and asked for voting documentation from four counties whose officials declined.

Mastriano, an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump’s debunked theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, had been in contact with Trump, who, Mastriano said, supports him if he were to run for governor next year.

Because of the bungled effort and significant backlash to Mastriano’s efforts, Corman appointed Dush as committee chair. Corman was among the seven Republican votes since he serves on the committee as an ex officio member.

Both Mastriano and Dush were among several GOP senators who flew to Arizona to learn firsthand how officials in Maricopa County were handling an audit in a bid to determine whether there was fraudulent voting in the state’s largest county that includes Phoenix. President Joe Biden captured Arizona’s 11 electoral votes by beating Trump by about 10,000 votes statewide and by about 45,000 in Maricopa County.

On Friday, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann said that the company which performed the “forensic audit” concluded that the results in Maricopa County confirmed Biden’s victory. In fact, the audit yielded 99 additional votes for Biden and 261 fewer votes for Trump, Fann said.

Lawsuits have already been filed by the state attorney general’s and the governor’s offices to block the subpoenas.

“By trying to pry into everyone’s driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers they have gone too far,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Also weighing in was Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh, who issued a sharply worded statement blasting the subpoena effort. He said, “This clown show must end.”

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.