Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A state senator that represents part of Lower Bucks County is introducing legislation to allow counties to pre-canvass mail-in ballots and provide a minimum of one drop box for every 20,000 residents.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat from Lower Makefield Township, recently announced the two planned pieces of legislation to expand access to voting.
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The Safe Drop Act would force counties to have a mail-in ballot drop box for every 20,000 residents at a minimum. The counties, according to Santarsiero’s office, would make the drop boxes available to voters 24 hours per day a week from the beginning of mail in balloting until the polls close at 8 p.m. on election day.
Drop boxes for ballots were allowed in the 2020 primary and general election. In Bucks County, there were three secured ballot drop boxes last year and they were watched by election officials, sheriff’s deputies, and security cameras in the weeks leading up to the elections. The in-person ballot drop boxes varied in operation across the state.
“During both the primary and general elections last year we saw huge interest in voting by mail,” said Santarsiero. “With concerns about the capacity of the U.S. Postal Service to make sure ballots arrived in time to be counted, ballot drop boxes provided voters with peace of mind that their vote would be counted.”
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Delays in mail delivery times in 2020 and again in 2021 have highlighted the importance of drop boxes.
Santarsiero’s other piece of legislation will allow county election officials to pre-canvass mail-in ballots that arrive, a major and ongoing complaint of election officials across the state.
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Act 77 of 2019, the law that reformed Pennsylvania’s voting process, allowed for counties to begin accepting mail-in ballots 50 days before an election but doesn’t allow them to be fully prepared for counting, also known as pre-canvassing, until 7 a.m. on election day. The pre-canvassing process includes opening ballot envelopes, removing inner envelopes and ballots, and scanning the ballots but not recording the votes until election day.
The legislation would allow county boards of elections to start pre-canvassing mail-in ballots starting 21 days before election day, according to Santarsiero’s office.
“We saw more than 2.6 million Pennsylvanians vote by mail in the 2020 general election, yet the final results were not known for five days. If we want a timely counting of ballots on election day, we must allow election officials to begin handling the influx of mail-in ballots sooner,” said Santarsiero.
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The Bucks County Commissioners, who a serve on the county board of elections and are comprised of two Democrats and one Republican, have called for pre-canvassing to be allowed prior to election day.
A number of Republican state lawmakers have called for tightening restrictions on voting, but Santarsiero said he believes his proposals would improve the process.
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“When we make it easier to vote, more people participate in the process, strengthening our democracy,” said Santarsiero.
Santarsiero’s pieces of legislation would have to pass the two Republican-controlled chambers and be signed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
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Santarsiero’s 10th Senate District covers Tullytown, Falls Township, Morrisville, Newtown Township, Newtown Borough, Lower Makefield, Upper Makefield, Doylestown Borough, Doylestown Township and a number of other towns in the central and upper portions of Bucks County.
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