Election Code proposals trigger debate in Harrisburg as hearings progress – TribLIVE

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State lawmakers are weighing sweeping changes to Pennsylvanias election laws as candidates cautiously test the waters for a 2022 mid-term election that could once again put the state in the bulls-eye of the national debate over election reform.

In Pennsylvania, where unsuccessful court challenges to the 2020 presidential election continued for months, about two dozen proposed changes to the Election Code run a broad spectrum. They range from a bill that would repeal the no-excuse mail-in balloting law, passed in 2019, to several that would expand the deadline for voter registration up to Election Day.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute that tracks such issues nationally, proposals to tighten election and registration restrictions here outnumber those that would expand voter rights by about 2 to 1.

While it appears the 2019 law will remain in place for the May 18 primary election, those monitoring the issue say questions likely will resurface when voters begin casting ballots.

Ray Murphy is state coordinator for Keystone Votes, a coalition of 42 civil rights, civic and community groups that advocated for mail-in voting. He fears the upcoming election will serve only to magnify concerns about the states election laws.

We have to start thinking about this. The primary election in Pennsylvania will start in two weeks. Mail ballots already have been requested. Were going to have a batch of new problems in May, he said.

He predicted issues with provisional ballots and remaining questions about allowing voters to cure faulty mail-in ballots with minor issues will remain at the forefront of the debate. He said its critical that the state resolve such issues before the 2022 midterm elections, when open seats in the governors mansion and the U.S. Senate will again cast the critical swing state into the national spotlight.

Murphys coalition supports measures such as establishing drop boxes at convenient locations where voters can deposit ballots before Election Day; establishing a procedure and timeline for election officials to notify voters of minor oversights on mail-in ballots and allowing them to make corrections so ballots can be counted; accepting ballots postmarked by Election Day if they are received within three days; and allowing county election officials to begin precanvassing mail-in ballots as they arrive.

They say precanvassing, which allows election officials to check in mailed ballots as they arrive and set them aside for counting on Election Day a process that has been widely adopted in states with longstanding mail-in balloting would greatly streamline the process for local election officials.

Although there has been bipartisan support for precanvassing, Democrats and Republicans havent reached an agreement on the specifics of such legislation.

The GOP majority in the Legislature, however, has come down firmly in favor of issues such as requiring signature verification on mail-in ballots and limiting counting to those received by Election Day. They say Pennsylvanias Supreme Court cast the integrity of the 2020 election into question and created a landscape ripe for abuse when it ruled against signature verification, allowed drop boxes and said ballots received in the mail up to three days after Election Day could be counted.

State Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, who was reelected in November, is among those firmly advocating for change as House and Senate committees continue to hold hearings on the issue.

Without question, a top priority that needs to be addressed is the Pennsylvania Supreme Courts overreach during the last election cycle, Ward said. The Pennsylvania Supreme Courts decision put into question the integrity of our states election laws by allowing for the authorization of drop boxes, elimination of signature requirements and permitting late ballot arrivals. In both the state and U.S. Constitution, its clear that the state legislature sets the time, place and manner of elections, not the state Supreme Court.

Changes ahead

Republican lawmakers in 43 states have been pushing changes to adopt restrictions in state election law in the wake of false narratives of election fraud in the 2020 election, which helped spur the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Several states, including Iowa and Georgia, already have passed bills restricting absentee and early voting.

Such measures could face a brick wall in Pennsylvania, where last fall Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a bill that would have banned drop boxes and changed the time period in which voters can request a mail-in ballot from seven days to 15 days before an election even though it included a three-day period for county election officials to precanvass mail-in ballots.

Ward said Republicans are prepared to take another route to make changes if Wolf refuses to sign off on their changes this year.

If that happens, it means the only way to protect the constitution will be, yet again, another constitutional amendment, to put the decision into the hands of the people, Ward vowed.

She says its all about ensuring election integrity. Others arent so sure the issue that the GOP seized upon in the wake of Donald Trumps defeat is the sole issue driving the debate.

Chris Deluzio, a lawyer who studies election issues as policy director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security, said its unclear where Pennsylvania election law will land.

But Im most concerned about the volume of restrictive proposals that are bouncing around the General Assembly that would make it more difficult for people to register or vote. There are so many proposals to end no-excuse mail-in voting, proposals to end the permanent early voting list, proposals to eliminate drop boxes and to mandate more aggressive signature matching, which we know is fraught and can carry significant risks of disenfranchising folks, he said.

Im worried that what the Republicans in Harrisburg are up to is to restrict voting so they can continue to win elections, he said.

While such proposals are indeed pending, at the county level where elections are held, officials simply are looking for changes that will make it easier to handle mail-in voting.

Electronic poll books, training, education and adequate time to send out and process ballots are high on the lists of those who administer elections.

Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the state Senate Special Committee on Election Integrity and Reform. He said officials in the county of 350,000 residents were stressed handling the new law and expanded volume of mail-in ballots when ballot approvals were delayed for several weeks last fall because of legal challenges.

Having an earlier date to request mail-in ballots would provide time for lost ballots or delayed ballots to be resent using the U.S. Postal System, without resorting to extraordinary means either by the county or the voter, he said.

Moreover, he said the state needs to clarify gray areas of the law that resulted in counties receiving conflicting guidance last year.

While officials in Harrisburg hold hearings and weigh changes to the state Election Code, Democrats in Congress are promoting H.R. 1, a Biden administration bill that would mandate early voting and same-day registration, and overhaul campaign finance and congressional redistricting.

Republicans have condemned the bill, which would eliminate state-to-state variations in election law, as an assault on states rights to conduct elections.

Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 724-850-1209, derdley@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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Election Code proposals trigger debate in Harrisburg as hearings progress - TribLIVE