Aug 28, 2020 4 min read

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday launched a counterproposal to Republican state senators’ support of election reforms, saying, “There are some changes that still needed to be made to make a good system even better. … Give people an easier ability to run the democracy that’s there.”

Speaking via livestream from Ridgeway Community Church, a longtime polling place in Dauphin County, Wolf said, “We as a democracy depend on people voting.”

Republican State Sens. Joe Scarnati and Jake Corman on Monday announced they want to allow what’s known as “pre-canvassing” – opening outer and inner envelopes, flattening them and scanning them, but not tabulating them – three days before an election.

Wolf on Thursday proposed lengthening the window for this process to 21 days, but he does not want any results from pre-canvassed ballots to be released before 8 p.m. on Election Day, the time that in-person polls are scheduled to close.

The current time frame for pre-canvassing can’t begin before 7 a.m. on Election Day, the same time that in-person voting locations are to open statewide.

Wolf also wants to extend to the Friday after an election for counties to receive mailed ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

The extension was used in six Pennsylvania counties experiencing civil unrest this past June in the wake of the May 25 death in Minnesota of the unarmed George Floyd, on whom video shows a policeman kneeling, cutting off Floyd’s air supply.

The Republican proposal contains no such extension, although state law already allows mailed military and civilian overseas ballots to arrive in elections offices up to one week after Election Day and still be counted.

Both the state Senate reform and Wolf support the creation of secure drop boxes for ballots that could be used if the window seems too short to be delivered by mail.

To increase turnaround time, Republicans have floated the idea of making the deadline to request a mail-in ballot 15 days before an election, which is the same cutoff for voter registration.

Asked by a member of the media about his views on this, Wolf replied, “I would be a terrible negotiator if I said anything on that.”

Counties can start processing absentee and no-excuse mail-in ballot requests 50 days before an election, which will occur in mid-September for upcoming contests.

This year’s voter registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 19, but don’t dally, Wolf told voters on Thursday: “Right now is the time to register to vote, update your polling location and sign up for a write-in vote at votespa.com.

“Nearly 1.5 million people elected to vote in the Pennsylvania primary election on June 2. We think there’s going to be even more” for the Nov. 3 presidential contest.

Those without internet access can obtain paper forms for voter registration, absentee ballots and no-excuse mail-in ballots from county elections offices. Postage-paid envelopes are being used for the Nov. 3 contest by the Pennsylvania Department of State, so mail-in voters don’t have to scurry to find a stamp.

The governor noted he and First Lady Frances Wolf and the president of the United States have used the mail-in method of voting.

In a news release Thursday disseminated by Precision Strategies, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School compiled quotes from Republican secretaries of state in Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Washington, West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon expressing confidence in vote-by-mail systems.

“This is the essence of democracy,” Wolf said. “Whether we’re Republicans or Democrats, members of the county commission or Legislature or governor, we ought to be working together to make this thing robust.”

Changes in the Pennsylvania election law – the first in 80 years – resulted in a million-and-a-half mail-in votes being cast in the June 2 primary. The changes were enacted last autumn before anyone knew there would be an outbreak of what became known as the novel coronavirus.

Polling places will remain open on Nov. 3 for those who choose to vote in person, and Wolf noted millions of dollars worth of personal protective equipment had been provided for Pennsylvanian voters to guard against COVID-19.

“Everything should be focused on increasing access to vote,” Wolf said.