Pennsylvania Gov dismisses Stephen Miller’s automatic voter registration flak: ‘That guy’s a dope’

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) dismissed former Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s recent criticism of the Keystone State’s automatic voter registration system, calling Miller “a dope.” 

When asked on CNN’s “This Morning” to respond to a post from Miller, who argued the new system will not have citizenship verification, Shapiro said, “Look, I’m not going to respond to Stephen Miller.”

“That guy’s a dope who can’t tell the truth,” he added.

CNN anchor Poppy Harlow told Shapiro she was not asking about Miller, but rather the “substance” of his post. 

“Well, he doesn’t raise any substance,” Shapiro said. “Here is the actual substance — when you go to get a driver’s license, when you go to renew your driver’s license, you have to bring identifying documents in order to be able to secure that driver’s license, the same documents that are required to be able to register to vote.” 

Shapiro announced Tuesday that Pennsylvania will start automatically enrolling eligible voters into the registration system when they renew or receive new identification (ID) cards or a driver’s license.

Under the previous system, eligible voters were required to personally opt in to the process to become a registered voter in the state. Those who do not want to be registered to vote will still be allowed to opt out of the process.

Shapiro defended the new program, calling it “good for our democracy” and an “important way” to expand voter participation.

“It goes through our DMV process, which already includes safeguards to ensure that the person registering to vote is eligible to vote,” Shapiro said. 

“If you choose not to register to vote, if you want to opt out, that’s perfectly fine. But we think we need to make it easier for eligible voters to participate in our democracy,” he added.

The Pennsylvania governor also took a dig at the series of election fraud claims that surfaced after the 2020 election. 

“I went to court more than 40 times to defeat people like Stephen Miller and others who tried to thwart the will of the people in Pennsylvania who made up all kinds of ridiculous claims after the 2020 election,” Shapiro said. “And I won every single time in court and defended the will of the people here in Pennsylvania, defended the right to vote.” 

Pennsylvania is now the 24th state to use automatic voter registration. And, as one of the nation’s few swing states, Pennsylvania has often played a large role in determining the result of presidential elections.

In 2016, former President Trump won the state, but then he lost it to President Biden in 2020. As Shapiro stated, automatic voter systems are often seen as a way to increase voter turnout in states with narrow voter margins.