(WHTM)– Democrats in the state house finally pushed through mail-in ballot reforms that county commissioners have sought for years. On a party-line vote they approved pre-canvassing which would let counties open and sort mail-ins up to seven days before the election.
Currently, they can’t be sorted and prepared for counting until 7 a.m. on Election Day. Counties had complained and asked for change.
But is pre-canvassing still a priority?
Some say no, that the state now sends additional money to counties so they can hire more people and require them to stay on the job until the counting’s complete.
Republicans argue the bill that passed the house this week would remove that requirement and let counties decide on their own how quickly to count those mail-ins.
“Which means you’re not going to have you’re not going to find out who the president United States is, because it’s coming through Pennsylvania,” State Rep. Seth Grove (R-York) said. “So all eyes will be on us. The question is, do we want to be another embarrassing bit to the country or do we want to or do we want to handle our stuff Election night? That bill will make us another national embarrassment for the second election, presidential election back to back.”