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Posted on 08/27/2020 12:25:05 PM PDT by lightman
HARRISBURG, Pa. —
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is proposing changes to the state's election laws that would extend deadlines for mail-in ballots and speed up the appointment of poll workers.
Here's a breakdown of the governor's proposals:
To speed up vote counting, counties would be allowed to start scanning and verifying ballot envelopes, match signatures to voter rolls and scan ballots 21 days before the election (current law only permits this process to begin at 7 a.m. on Election Day). Counties would NOT tabulate or report vote totals until polls close on Election Day.
Allow counties to count eligible ballots postmarked by Election Day and received by the Friday following Election Day to ensure that all ballots mailed by the deadline are counted. Current law requires that mail-in ballots be received by Election Day.
Require counties to start sending mail-in ballots at least 28 days before the election rather than 14 days as currently required. According to the governor's office, the change ensures voters who apply early will have at least four weeks to receive and return their ballot.
Counties would be given increased flexibility to appoint poll workers to vacant positions earlier than five days before an election.
The governor's office released the following statement:
"Governor Tom Wolf urged the legislature to quickly pass his plan for safe and secure elections that ensures voters will receive mail-in ballots early, have time to return them, and that counties will have the time they need to quickly count the anticipated historic number of votes cast. The governor also reminded voters that the best way to make sure their vote is counted is to sign up now for a mail-in ballot and return it well before the Nov. 3 election.
“'My administration continues to have great confidence in the state’s election system,'” said Gov. Wolf. “'Regardless of whether you cast your vote from the convenience of home with a mail-in ballot, or in person on election day, my administration has worked hard to ensure that every person has their voice heard and every vote is counted. These proposed reforms will further strengthen our elections, help people to vote safely from home, and assist counties in processing the surge in mail-in ballots.'”
"The primary in June was the first time that voters could use mail-in ballots after the historic, bipartisan Act 77 of 2019 signed into law by Gov. Wolf last fall. Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly embraced mail-in voting with nearly 1.5 million voters casting a mail-in or absentee ballot, more than half of all votes cast. Despite the record increase in mail-in ballots, and pandemic-related challenges, the primary was administered smoothly with few disruptions.
"The Department of State and counties are using experiences from the primary to make improvements for the general election. Many counties, which administer Pennsylvania’s elections, are preparing for millions of mail-in ballots by increasing the use of high-speed scanners and other technology to quicken ballot canvassing and vote counting.
"In addition, based on experience in the primary, Gov. Wolf called on the legislature to take immediate action on election improvements including:
Allowing counties to start pre-canvassing ballots 21 days before the election rather than at 7 a.m. election day to make vote counting faster. Pre-canvassing involves counties scanning and verifying the ballot envelope, matching the voter’s signature to voter rolls, opening the mail and secrecy envelopes, and removing and scanning the ballot. Counties would not tabulate or report vote totals until polls close at 8 p.m. on election day.
Allowing counties to count eligible ballots postmarked by election day and received by the Friday following election day to ensure that all ballots mailed by the deadline are counted.
Requiring counties to start sending mail-in ballots at least 28 days before the election rather than 14 days as currently required. The change ensures voters who apply early will have at least four weeks to receive and return their ballot.
Providing counties flexibility to appoint poll workers to vacant positions earlier than five days before an election. More poll workers are still needed, and the Department of State is encouraging businesses, colleges and organizations to reach out to their county elections office and volunteer at their local precincts.
"The governor made the announcement during a news conference at Ridgeway Community Church, which serves as a polling place in Dauphin County. The governor was joined by Centre County Commissioner Chair Michael Pipe.
“'If you want to vote by mail, apply now and your county will send you a ballot as soon as it is finalized,'” said Gov. Wolf. “'When you receive your ballot, complete it and mail it back as soon as you can so your county gets it in plenty of time.'”
"The Department of State soon will launch a public awareness campaign to inform voters how to apply for a mail-in ballot and will partner with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Allegheny County on voting initiatives.
"Eligible voters may apply for their mail-in or absentee ballot online at votespa.com, in person at their county election offices, or by paper forms submitted by mail. Once the county determines the voter is eligible, counties will send the voter a ballot with return postage paid by the Department of State, so casting a ballot is free to voters. Voters have several convenient options to return their ballot by mail, in person at their county election office or at drop boxes, which many counties expect to provide.
"Voters may register to vote and apply for their mail-in or absentee ballot online, in person at their county election offices, or by paper forms submitted by mail. The voter registration deadline for the Nov. 3 general election is Oct. 19. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 27. Online application for mail-in and absentee ballots are available in Spanish.
"Pennsylvania is not automatically sending ballots to voters.
"For voters who prefer to vote in person, polling places will be available in all counties on election day, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m."
The Pennsylvania House issued the following response:
"Today, Gov. Tom Wolf outlined his “proposals for safe and secure elections.”
"In response, Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus Spokesperson Jason Gottesman, made the following comment:
“'When the House of Representatives returns to session next week, we will consider legislation crafted using the Department of State’s report from that primary election that provides more options to voters to cast their ballots, enhances the security of the voting process, and maintains the integrity of our elections while ensuring accurate results are reported in a timely manner.
“'While we agree that changes must be made to our Election Code following the primary, it was the governor’s team who walked away from substantive discussions on reaching agreement on a bill only to seek their politically-motivated changes in the courts and making an end-run around the Constitutional prerogative of the General Assembly to determine the time, place, and manner of elections.
“'As the House and Senate work together to advance needed changes to our election process that benefit the people of Pennsylvania —not the DNC or the Biden campaign—it is up to the governor to determine whether he will put political motivation aside and work with us, instead of against us, in reaching our shared goals.'”
Pennsylvania Ping!
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Why not just set the deadline for absentee ballot mailing to be Friday? Then they can still “meet” the deadline, and get the votes in.
I don’t think verifying early is an issue; except I can imagine partisan democrats starting 3 weeks ahead, and mailing letters to every democrat who gets rejected so they can re-do their ballots. But not republicans.
Hopefully our REPUBLICAN LED legislature will reject this on delivery.
If for no other reason than pure payback for his COVID dictates.
Speed up poll worker approval is fine (probably)
NO to pre-counting the votes.
NO to extending vote times.
If BLM has the balls to go out and protest every night then the rest of the US can put on their big boy pants and vote at a polling place as normal.
The republicans should allow them to start checking ballots 1 week before the election, with the stipulation that ALL aspects of that task be kept secret. Nobody can take names of rejected ballots and contact the people to get them fixed. Nobody can count the results. No partisan gets to touch the ballots and “lose” the ones they don’t like.
Also, republicans should insist that EVERY county has at least the same number of polling places as in 2016, or 2018, whichever is bigger. This “every county will have a polling place” is absurd, the democrats will shut down all but one polling place in republican counties, knowing republicans are going to vote.
Changing rules this close seems like a bad idea.
Massive oorruption from Democrat scum.
They are going to steal it.
Anything that originates with Tom Wolf is a bad idea.
My Response:
How to Defeat Mail-in-Voting
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3857760/posts
How to Defeat Mail-in-Voting Part II
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3871759/posts
How to Defeat Mail-in-Voting Part III
Coming Soon...
This is bogus.
This is bogus.
This BS isn’t going to go well at all. To much room for fraud, corruption and ballot harvesting.
I vote in person, only.
So they don't accidentally understuff the ballot boxes on election day? Who knew we needed 100,000 extra votes on Tuesday?
We need a republican poll watcher in every precinct and in every place where the votes are being counted. They don’t have to be a poll worker there all day but they must be there at the end of the day to see that the balloting is closed out. If every election judge there is a Democrat, who’s to say how many times a few extra votes are run through the machines for people who never showed up.
Again I bring up the UK. The U.K. is roughly twice the size of PA and has 5 times the population. Yet they regularly conduct elections, sometimes on fairly short notice and manage to report the results pretty much the same night. How is such a thing possible? We are being forewarned that our results might not be known for weeks.
On paper most of the proposals should help the process along...tho where there is a dumblecrat involved, there will always be corruption to the system.
But I do object to this one:
Allowing counties to count eligible ballots postmarked by election day and received by the Friday following election day to ensure that all ballots mailed by the deadline are counted.
If you can’t get your ballot in ON TIME, maybe you should do something else, like show up in person to vote.
They will be finding boxes of ballots and keep counting until Biden wins
another corruption of the Transylvannian Governor
is WHO GETS to FILL IN THE ballots of the
ELDERLY he murdered after Mommy was taken out???
Is it the DNC? or just China?
Moving the Dem plan along.
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