Pa. Democrats want counties to be able to count mail ballots faster. Here’s why changes are unlikely.

HARRISBURG — Newly empowered Pennsylvania House Democrats, in a position to move election legislation for the first time since the 2020 election, are proposing a change to allow mail ballots to be processed earlier so they can be counted faster.

The change is widely backed by elections administrators across the state — but the bill doesn’t have the backing of Republicans, who control the Senate.

Currently, mail ballots can’t be opened in Pennsylvania until 7 a.m. on Election Day. In high-turnout elections, that means the days-long process of counting millions of mail ballots can’t begin until Election Day. In 2020, that meant days before we knew who won the White House.

House Bill 847 would allow counties to begin “pre-canvassing” — activities such as opening envelopes or unfolding ballots, but not counting them — seven days before Election Day. It would also standardize how counties allow voters to correct mail ballot errors, change the mail ballot request deadline from the current seven days to 11 days before Election Day, and allow voters to request mail ballots at their county elections offices until the day before Election Day.

“This is really a ‘promises made, promises kept’ moment,” said Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia). “[The bill] is really to ensure that the people of Pennsylvania get an answer to the results of the election as quickly as possible, so we don’t have to wait with bated breath, wait on pins and needles, to get the results of the election.”

The House State Government committee advanced the measure Monday, but it would need to pass both the full House and the Senate before reaching the governor’s desk.

Ever since Pennsylvania passed Act 77 in 2019 — the state law that created no-excuse mail voting — counties have been asking for more time to prepare mail ballots for counting. Lawmakers in Harrisburg have made some changes to the state’s election law, such as setting aside $45 million in new state funding if they ensure they won’t stop counting until the vote count is complete, which 63 counties accessed last year.

Three years and six statewide elections later, some counties still hope lawmakers will give them more time to prepare mail ballots. Although counties have more equipment — and experience — handling mail ballots than they did in 2020, many elections officials worry that high turnout in 2024 could again lead to long vote counts.

Pre-canvassing is not inherently a partisan issue, and many other states — both red and blue — give elections administrators time to prepare or even count mail ballots before Election Day. In Pennsylvania, the nonpartisan County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, which represents county commissioners, has repeatedly advocated for pre-canvassing as a top legislative priority.

But in Harrisburg, election administration has become a partisan bargaining chip.

Democrats say pre-canvassing would help counties finish counting sooner and thus, prevent voter mistrust in the election results. GOP lawmakers generally oppose extending the pre-canvassing period, in part due to fears of early voting results swaying elections. (The Democratic proposal would not allow counties to begin tabulating election results before Election Day.)

That means HB 847 is unlikely to pass a split state legislature in which Democrats maintain a one-seat majority in the state House and the GOP controls the Senate.

Even if the full House approves the bill, the Republicans who control the Senate say they’re uninterested in extending the pre-canvassing period without other election-related provisions that Democrats oppose.

Sen. Cris Dush (R., Jefferson), who chairs the Senate State Government committee and thus controls what election legislation gets a vote, said the state should focus on counting the votes on Election Day as quickly as possible.

“I’ll pay. I’m willing to have us from the state pay whatever it takes,” Dush told The Inquirer. “We’ll make the two most expensive days in the commonwealth [our] election days.”

Dush said statutory guidelines for how voters can fix errors on their mail ballots, a process known as “ballot curing,” are needed. Currently, each county sets its own policies on whether voters can correct ballot flaws and how to notify them, creating a patchwork of procedures across the state.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said Senate Republicans want a “holistic approach” to addressing voter confidence in Pennsylvania’s elections — with stricter voter ID requirements as a top priority.

The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania supports much of HB 847, including the seven-day advance period for elections officials to pre-canvass ballots. But they “caution strongly against” a provision that would allow voters to request a mail ballot in person as late as the day before the election.

Currently, voters must apply for a mail ballot at least seven days before the election. The Democrats’ bill would instead create two deadlines, depending on how the voter requests it.

The measure would set the deadline for requests online or by mail — ballots that are mailed to voters — to be 11 days before Election Day.

But voters could request mail ballots in person at their county elections offices until the day before Election Day. Those ballots would be printed for the voter on the spot. Such a change would create additional stress on election workers, said Lisa Schaefer, the county association’s executive director.

“Counties are already engaged in numerous critical tasks in the days leading up to the election, and would have to abandon those each time a voter comes in to apply for a mail-in ballot,” she said in a statement.