HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The State Senate is moving ahead with an investigation of the 2020 election. It has hired an outside firm to conduct it but as abc27 found out, there are questions about its qualifications and Senate Republicans’ motivations.

Iowa-based Envoy Sage will get $270,000 over the next six months to quote-unquote “investigate” the 2020 election. State Republicans hired them. “It’s disappointing that they went ahead and did it unilaterally,” State Minority Leader Senator Jay Costa (D) said.

On its website, Envoy Sage touts research and investigation but no mention of election reviews. It claims to be non-partisan. Democrats question that. “This clearly is a partisan effort by Republicans to continue to try to undermine the 2020 election,” Costa said.

“This isn’t just about ballots. It’s not just about machines. It’s about the entire scope,” Chair of the Intergovernmental Operations Committee, Senator Cris Dush (R) said. Dush hired Envoy Sage. “I want a broad picture of what is going on in the commonwealth with our elections research and investigation.”

Dush won’t concede Joe Biden won in 2020 despite numerous reviews and audits. He cites what he calls unconstitutional rulings by the Supreme Court and guidance by the Department of State. “THere’s nobody in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania who can tell you what the exact who actually won any elections because the processes were not followed,” Dush said.

There’s a chance the personal information like partial Social Security and driver’s license numbers of seven million Pennsylvanians will be collected and examined by a third-party vendor. “We don’t know how they’re gonna house it. We don’t know the level of security they’re going to provide for this information,” Costa said.

Fear not, Dush says. Envoy Sage has done extensive work for the military. “These guys have experience with handling classified information which has a much higher level of protection,” Dush said.

Democrats are also frustrated because they’re suing to stop the investigation saying the senate committee doesn’t have the authority to conduct. It’ll be in Commonwealth Court on Dec. 15 and they felt Republicans should have waited for a ruling before hiring a vendor.