A bill introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate is looking to change some of the dates connected with mail-in balloting.
Right now, counties are not allowed to pre-canvass, or count, any mail-in or absentee ballots until the day of the election, but last November, that caused official results to be delayed by up five days as over 2.6 million Pennsylvanians mailed in ballots. Legislation sponsored by Senator Steve Santaserio would allow canvassing of mail-in ballots to begin 21 days prior to Election Day. He says that allowing for the 21-day pre-canvass will ease the burden on county election administrators and allow votes to be tallied in a timely manner.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of State issued a reminder that those who want to vote by mail should apply now so that they can receive their primary ballot as soon as possible. The deadline to register to vote with a mail-in ballot is May 11th. Voters can apply online or print out an application at www.votespa.com and submit the paper application to their county board of elections. Voters are encouraged to apply now to give them plenty of time to receive and return their ballots.
Comments