Urge PA Legislature to Pass Bill to Permit Processing Ballots Before Election Day

From Common Cause (http://www.commoncause.org):

We’re glad that during our recent primary election, officials were able to count votes quickly — a far cry from November’s presidential election.

But that’s not because our lawmakers took any action to help our counties — it’s because of the low turnout, which won’t be around in every election.

We can’t rely on low turnout for timely results — and we shouldn’t, because it’s better for Pennsylvanians when more people vote. Instead, our lawmakers need to help our counties now.

We need to take action right away: Go to https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/the-pa-legislature-must-pass-pre-canvassing-legislation-2/ to tell the Pennsylvania Legislature to pass a bill allowing counties to begin processing ballots before Election Day — absolutely crucial to set election officials up for success.

More voters than ever have been casting their ballots by mail — and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.

That’s why election officials have been pushing for a key solution for months — called “pre-canvassing”, it would allow counties to start opening envelopes and flattening ballots before Election Day to make the ballot-counting process quicker and easier.

Pre-canvassing doesn’t just allow counties to count their ballots sooner, though. If lawmakers pass it with a curing provision, voters will also be able to fix simple mistakes on their ballot before it’s too late. That’s crucial — a ballot shouldn’t be set aside just because you forgot to sign the envelope.

But even though the Legislature knows how crucial pre-canvassing is, they STILL haven’t taken action — almost ensuring that Pennsylvania’s election results in November would be delayed, and essentially guaranteeing something similar in the future.

That doesn’t make sense: pre-canvassing doesn’t cost anything, and it saves election workers from being forced to count ballots around the clock for days — potentially under national pressure — and gives voters the chance to cure their ballot.

ADD MY NAME: Our State Legislature must pass legislation right away that would allow county boards of elections to begin canvassing ballots before Election Day >>

Our election officials are why our democracy works, and their contributions in our recent elections have been invaluable. Now, it’s time to work for them, just like they’ve worked for us.