(The Center Square) – The House of Representatives took a final vote Tuesday on a bill that would allow mail-in or absentee ballots to be pre-canvased seven days prior to election day.
A significant change from current law, which only allows ballots to be opened starting at 7 a.m. on Election Day, the bill passed almost completely along party lines: one Republican broke with his party for a final vote of 103-98.
Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Scott Conklin of Centre County, the bill sought to provide overwhelmed voting officials with more time to make counting more efficient.
“I asked if you [the county commissioners] had one thing, what would you like to do? And they said they would like the ability to early canvas,” Conklin said.
This process allows one Republican and one Democrat, overseen by the election office, to watch as poll workers open the ballots, verify voter signatures and identity and flatten the ballots for the counting machines. While Conklin clarified that it does not involve any pre-election counting of votes or recording, Republicans took issue with a separate aspect of the process.
“This pre-canvassing let’s dead people vote” said Republican Rep. Brad Roae from Crawford County.
Roae argued that pre-canvasing, by removing the envelope, essentially makes the ballot anonymous and the voters’ living or non-living status unverifiable.
“If somebody says, ‘Hey, somebody died. You ought to get rid of his ballot. He’s dead.’ How do you know which one it is?” Roae said. “It’s sad when somebody dies, but if the law says you can’t vote when you’re dead, you can’t vote when you’re dead.”
While some contend that this issue cannot make up a large percentage of the voting count, Republican Rep. Jeremy Shaffer of Allegheny County responded that approximately 20,000 Pennsylvanians die between the start of mail-in voting and Election Day. Roae maintained that elections are often much closer than one would expect.
“We have people in this room who have won primary elections by one vote,” he said. “It’s very likely you could have that many people die in a several weeklong period.”
The bill, having passed its third and final consideration, needs to gain Senate approval before making it to the governor’s desk; a prospect, Conklin finds discouraging due to the Senate’s Republican majority.
“I love the Senate. What, out of 3,500 bills the Senate has only kicked 17 out for the governor to sign?” Conklin said. “I hate to say it, but it’s [congressional voting] been along party lines because the misunderstanding by many of my colleagues of what it takes to be able to run election.”
Conklin, a two-term county commissioner and chair of the election board, maintained that the bill has nothing to do with politics, and is solely focused on making elections easier for those doing the heavy, hands-on work.
Shaffer agreed that administrating the voting process is not easy.
“County election administrators have a challenging job and a legitimate problem,” Shaffer said, acknowledging that opening and preparing all of the mail-in and absentee ballots in one day, is a burden.
“But the bill, as it is written, trades election integrity for administrative convenience.” Shaffer said.
Like similar voting bills proposed by Conklin over the years, this pre-canvasing bill’s chances in the Senate are slim, but Conklin has not given up.
“There’s always hope,” he said. “There’s always hope.”
