Democrats and nonpartisan election advocates are urging the Pennsylvania Senate to pass legislation that would allow more early mail-in ballots before Election Day. But nothing is likely to change before Election Day
As it stands, Pennsylvania election officials can begin an initial count of mail-in votes at 7 a.m. on Election Day. But because the number of voters casting ballots by mail surged around the 2020 election, after the introduction of no-excuse absentee voting policies and COVID-19 concerns prevented many from going to the polls, election officials say one day may not be enough time to prepare ballots for counting and tabulate results.
Pre-canvassing is the process of preparing votes before they are officially counted. This means removing votes from their secret envelopes, checking them for errors, flattening them, and scanning or processing them so they can be more easily counted on Election Day. It does not include counting or tabulating the results.
Many states with both Republican and Democratic majorities already allow mail-in voting ahead of Election Day.
Concerns about Pennsylvania’s current restrictions ahead of the start of the election campaign were raised during a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing Wednesday, where civil rights advocates and county election officials were invited to testify.
“Local officials from both parties have been clear about the value of providing additional time before Election Day to begin the work of checking ballot return envelopes, removing ballots and scanning them to record votes,” said Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of the Philadelphia-based Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan group focused on combating corruption and promoting open elections.
A bill that would allow counties to do just that passed the state House in May on a party-line vote. It is now in the Senate’s Government Committee. Bill No. 847 would allow election officials to begin an advance count of votes up to seven days before the election.
As is already the case, representatives from each political party and campaign on the ballot could oversee the process leading up to the vote. Although no one watching or participating could reveal any election results.
However, the bill is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled state Senate.
“Ensuring voter confidence and election security remains our highest priority, and making any significant changes just six weeks before the election would be unwise,” said Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana). “However, as we look beyond November, any discussions about changes to election administration in our state must also include the constitutional voter identification requirement.”
Senate Majority Committee Chairman Cris Dush (R-Jefferson) expressed a similar stance in an interview with Pennsylvania Cable Network on Tuesday.
“We will not be passing any new electoral laws for the rest of this term, and the reason is the confusion it is causing,” Dush said.
But supporters of expanding the pre-polling period say such a change would be beneficial for election officials and public trust.
According to Cristellas, when the law expanding access to mail-in voting was passed in 2019, lawmakers did not take into account that the COVID-19 pandemic would drastically raise the number of voters voting by mail.
She added that allowing absentee voting to take place earlier would allow the state to keep up with that trend.
In the 2016 elections over 260,000 In Pennsylvania, mail-in and absentee ballots were counted. Over 2.6 million were included in the 2020 elections.
As in 2020, when a vast number of mail-in votes led to delays, conspiracy theories began to spread.
“We have to get the results out on Election Day, otherwise people will start questioning the election,” said Jeff Reber, a Union County commissioner and chairman of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania’s election reform committee. “Pennsylvania is definitely going to be the focus. … We’re under constant scrutiny, and the more time you give us, the better.”
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s campaigns see Pennsylvania as a must-win state in the upcoming election, with its 19 electoral votes likely to be decided by a slim margin.
Delaware County Elections Director James Allen said getting results out quickly is especially arduous without expanded early voting in a state like Pennsylvania, where the election can be decided by just thousands of votes and counting mail-in or provisional ballots can affect the outcome.
In other states where the margin is larger, such as California and West Virginia, even if mail-in votes continue to be counted after Election Day, the results are virtually certain.
“When the decision is hanging in the balance and the contests are close, the focus seems to be on ‘why is it taking so long?’” Allen said. “Well, it’s taking so long in all 50 states, it’s just that the spotlight is on us.”
Committee testifiers also called on legislatures to make other changes to state election laws, though that likely will happen after the election.
Specifically, the testifiers asked the legislature to clarify legal issues currently before the courts that will affect how mail-in voting will work in the upcoming election. For example, clarifying requirements for mail-in ballot drop boxes or whether counties must have rules for notification and repair of damagesin which voters who make a mistake in voting by post should be notified and given the opportunity to correct their mistakes.
Another Supreme Court case will decide whether election officials must count votes even if voters forget to date the return envelope.
