LWVPA Response To Election Code Bill, HB 1300
For over a century the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania has worked to expand access to the ballot and to create an informed, empowered citizenry. Voter access has been the League’s top priority, dating back to the work to win the vote for the women of our commonwealth and country. We believe our form of representative government works best when all citizens can participate fully. We support legislation that makes it easier for all voters to cast their ballot.
Another priority is the safe, secure administration of elections. Last November, our election workers accomplished a heroic feat in the face of challenging circumstances and inadequate compensation. They administered an election with new laws in place and historic voter participation in the midst of a global pandemic, maintaining a high level of integrity that withstood multiple frivolous lawsuits and all required audits and reviews. All this, despite legislative leaders’ determined refusal to address ballot-request deadlines and the pre-canvassing of ballots, and in the face of some PA legislators’ repeated partisan efforts to stir mistrust in our election, election officials and time-tested electoral processes.
Last November 2020, LWVPA raised concerns about potential duplicative audits and uncoordinated assessments of PA election law when there had been near unanimous agreement on Act 12 of 2020, creating a bipartisan Pennsylvania Election Law Advisory Board. The 23 members were unanimously confirmed by the Senate in September 2020, with a mandate to study election-related issues and make recommendations to improve the electoral process in the Commonwealth.
Since then, the House State Government Committee has held ten three-hour hearings and Chair Seth Grove introduced a 149 page election law bill, addressing everything from audits to voting machines. That bill offers small fixes for the most pressing requests from county election officials, but far more of the bill appears designed to address non-existent problems and discourage potential voters.
Of greatest concern:
Deadline for Voter Registration:
The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania supports the move to provide more time for mailing and returning mail-in ballots, shifting that timeline from 7 to 15 days. At the same time, we strongly oppose shifting the voter registration back from 15 to 30 days. From a voter-education perspective, we know that many people do not realize they need to register, and that message often does not become clear until very close to election day. Twenty states and the District of Columbia now provide same-day voter registration. LWVPA and many other election reform advocates have long asked for same-day voter registration. Moving in the opposite direction is not acceptable.
We’ve seen data from the 2020 general election showing that over 18,000 Republicans and 12,000 Democrats registered between 30 and 15 days before election day. Those voters would not have been able to exercise that right if the date had remained at 30 days. We understand that some county election officials are concerned that a few of those who register in that window may not receive registration cards or appear in poll books. To disenfranchise more than 30,000 because a small number of that group may need to vote provisionally is not an adequate rationale for moving backward on this issue.
Ballot Return Locations: The bill describes rules for “ballot return locations,” rather than ballot drop-boxes, limiting hours the locations would be available and requiring that locations be monitored by two election workers throughout those hours. Those election workers will be authorized to verify the identity of individuals returning ballots and review ballot envelopes. This adds an unnecessary burden and expense to county election officials and limits the value to Pennsylvania voters.
The provisions require one location per 100,000 residents of a county and also require that ballot return locations be evenly distributed throughout a county to ensure equal access by voters. More than half of PA counties have populations under 100,000 residents, so in effect, the requirement is for one location, evenly distributed. This is a nonsensical requirement and of little help in expanding access. In many PA counties the requirement would dramatically limit the number of locations, also dramatically limiting the benefit of these locations.
Many states have used secure, convenient, accessible ballot drop boxes for years without incident and with strong public approval. Provisions in HB 1300 move in the wrong direction and for us would warrant a NO vote on this bill.
In addition to these issues, the bill raises questions about the curing of ballots, allows for discarding of ballots for small technical errors, fails to address potential intimidation of voters at ballot return locations or when voting in person, and creates a myriad of unfunded mandates that will further burden county election staff while denying them access to private funding used by many counties to accomplish needed functions.
One stated goal was to clarify the election code. This bill fails to do that, introducing unnecessary provisions, complications and questions. Another goal was to create greater consistency across the commonwealth. This bill attempts that in a way that undermines equity and leaves voters’ needs unmet in both our most populous and rural communities.
On behalf of PA voters, we ask legislators to set HB 1300 aside, wait for recommendations approved by a majority of the Election Law Advisory Board, and vote quickly on long-neglected redistricting reform bills with broad bipartisan support, HB 22 and SB 222.
Respectfully,
Terrie Griffin,
President, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania