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A Pennsylvania panel met for nearly two hours Thursday to discuss potential election law changes ahead of more involved talks expected later this summer.
You can replay the video of the State Government Committee hearing, and read my Tweets here.
Most of the witnesses who spoke at the hearing stressed the need to change state law to allow counties to start processing mailed ballots well ahead of Election Day, a practice often referred to as pre-canvassing.
What didn’t get much air time, however, are the particulars behind that term, which have significant implications in this context.
As defined by Pa.’s election code, pre-canvassing not only encompasses opening mailed ballots and preparing them for counting -- it also includes tallying votes (but not announcing the results or otherwise publicizing them).
Some election directors have advocated for changing state law to permit them to start pre-canvassing as far as 21 days before Election Day. They say changes to Pa.’s election laws should emphasize that tallies from scanned ballots are to be stored, but not accessed, until the polls close on Election Day. They said that rule should be backed up with sanctions for anyone who releases results early.
But some officials and election integrity advocates have concerns about the risk of counting votes in advance of Election Day. Political campaigns could use leaked data to shape their strategy and determine how to allocate resources, putting them at an unfair advantage, a scenario that Protect Our Vote Philly co-founder Rich Garella brought up at the hearing.
The mere suspicion that one candidate or party got access to pre-Election Day counts also could open the door for results to be challenged.
House State Government Committee Chair Garth Everett (R-Lycoming) says any legislation addressing this issue would clearly define what can occur ahead of polls closing. Everett says he’s been using the term “pre-processing” to refer to work by county election staff to prepare mailed ballots (i.e. opening envelopes, confirming signatures and ensuring ballots are properly stacked and aligned for scanning).
“Many members are very, very, very leery of scanning ballots before Election Day,” Everett said Thursday. “I get why. It could be done securely, it’s done in other states securely. But I don’t know that we need to do it. The time-consuming part is pre-processing.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said she favors an earlier start for pre-canvassing -- but didn’t get into specifics.
Asked for clarification, DoS spokesman Wanda Murren said the following by email:
“When she talks about ‘pre-canvassing,’ [Boockvar] is not adamant that this must include scanning or counting or tallying votes. The many other tasks – verifying voters’ eligibility, allowing for the challenge process, opening envelopes, flattening ballots – take a significant amount of time,” Murren wrote. “If counties were allowed to carry out all these preliminary tasks in advance, that would make a great difference in the time to carry out vote counting after the polls close.”
The legislature isn’t slated to begin serious work on election law changes until after the Department of State releases its review of the June 1 primary. That report is due on Aug. 1, a Saturday, so we probably won’t see the document before the following Monday.
Also: Motions to dismiss the federal lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and 67 county election boards are due today. U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan -- a Trump appointee -- ruled one week ago that if the case proceeds, arguments would begin Sept. 22 in Pittsburgh.
A few election headlines from around the country:
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