(The Center Square) – Lawmakers made another attempt to reform elections in Pennsylvania, though it’s unclear how much appetite exists to deliver the plan to the governor’s desk.
In many ways, it’s familiar. Like House Democratic-backed proposals that came before it, the bill establishes early in-person voting, ballot boxes and faster voter registration timelines. House Speaker Joanna McClinton, of Philadelphia, again sponsored it.
And again, it passed along party lines – 102-101 in favor, to be exact.
This time, however, there’s a historic difference: a bill to enact voter identification, historically a non-starter for the Democratic party, is only one step behind.
“As the birthplace of our great nation and Democracy in America, Pennsylvania should continue to be a bellwether for voter access,” McClinton said, calling her bill a “commonsense measure to improve the way Pennsylvania conducts our elections.”
In the commonwealth, counties are responsible for conducting elections and have notoriously individualized oversight.
While Republican legislators disagree, sometimes passionately, with McClinton’s characterization, they do enthusiastically support the identification bill from Rep. Thomas Mehaffie, R-Hershey, that awaits its final vote on the chamber floor.
Rep. Tim Bonner, R-Grove City, called McClinton’s bill “unconstitutional,” highlighting Article 7, which demands secrecy in voting and lays out specific circumstances in which voters are allowed to use absentee ballots. He says that changes to these rules should be left to the people to determine through ballot initiatives.
“We need to give back to the people the right to determine the kind of election system they want,” said Bonner.
The reforms in question would institute the use of secure drop boxes for returning mail-in ballots and allow pre-canvassing efforts to open and prepare ballots for scanning ahead of election day. It also provides uniformity and clarity around the state’s mail-in system.
The date or secrecy envelope requirement on mail-in ballots would be eliminated and the timeframe for requesting a mail-in ballot would change to 14 days prior to an election to ensure that the ballot can be returned through the post office on time.
Crucially, it would establish early in-person voting, a practice common in other states, including each of Pennsylvania’s neighbors. Reformers are optimistic that early voting would help to reduce headline-making waits at polling places on election day and allow more people to vote.
Mehaffie’s bill has not raised the same red flags as previous initiatives have within the state as many argue that they can be used to disenfranchise voters. The new proposal would allow voters to use a variety of identification options or even sign an affidavit affirming their legal right to vote in that precinct, similar to an election bill sent to former Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk in 2021.
Some maintain that there is no actual problem with people illegally voting in the United States, but the new legislation could help to allay growing concerns around election integrity.
A 2012 voter ID law was struck down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2014.
