FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2024
CONTACT: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennpolicy.org
STATEMENT on House Bill 847 – Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center
Legislation would give counties 7 days to pre-canvass mail ballots ahead of Election Day
(Harrisburg, PA) — Pre-canvassing is the process by which county election officials prepare mail and absentee ballots for counting on Election Day. Pennsylvania’s voters have been waiting YEARS for approval for pre canvassing which would allow counties to manage the election process and deliver results to voters as quickly as possible. There are several reasons the Senate must pass this legislation now:
- This legislation is not loaded with partisan wish lists; it is straightforward and supported by the County Commissioners Association, an organization with Republican leadership, and numerous organizations that support voting rights.
- It helps address the challenges that election officials face in administering elections and getting results to people as quickly as possible, which helps provide assurance to voters that the system is working.
- Pre-canvassing can also help protect the right to vote by providing a chance for voters to be notified if there is a technical problem with their ballot, helping to prevent voters from having their votes not counted due to small technical errors like a missing envelope or the wrong date.
- It would avoid a replay of the 2020 presidential election, wherein it took PA election workers nearly a week to count and certify mail-in ballots, thus delaying the vote count on the national level.
The Senate must act to pass this bill — all the people who have said they have any concerns can do the one thing that local election officials from all parties have said they need. It is time for the Senate to do the commonsense thing, and that is to pass this legislation in a bipartisan fashion.
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