Bringing PA voting into the 21 century

Early voting legislation coming before the House HARRISBURG — Citing alternate balloting methods that increased voter participation in a host of other states in last November’s election, a team of legislators from the Pennsylvania House and Senate Tuesday unveiled legislation to reform Pennsylvania’s voting process and encourage more residents to be regular voters. The bills would allow for voting before Election Day in Pennsylvania, and permit “no-excuse” absentee balloting, which would allow registered voters to apply for and cast an absentee ballot without having to present a reason. In addition, the bills would specifically guarantee the absentee voting rights of military voters. Voters in more than 30 other states already have access to some form of “no excuse” early voting and Maryland will soon join them after voters in November approved a ballot question by a nearly 3-to-1 margin. Early voting could reduce long lines at the polls such as in presidential election years, when turnout is especially heavy. In Pennsylvania, overall voting was up more than six percent from 2004, with Erie County showing a 12 percent increase and Berks County leading the state with a 13 percent rise. Much of Berks County is represented in the Senate by Sen. Michael O’Pake. Even with that increase, he said he believes even more eligible residents would be encouraged to vote if they could vote early. “Every election day, Pennsylvania voters are at risk of having to choose between not exercising their right to vote, or neglecting family and other duties because of long lines at polling places,” O’Pake said. “Voting is a right. It’s not supposed to be a test.” The legislators said that long lines at polling places affect the concentration and endurance of poll workers and discourage people from voting, especially those trying to cast a ballot before work or during their lunch hour. “Time to take the wheels off this old train,” said Rep. Mike McGeehan, D-Philadelphia. “We have 70 and 80-year-olds manning polls and no one to replace them with. It’s an antiquated system and it’s time to make it easier to register and vote without subjecting people to unnecessary hassles on Election Day.” Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, chairwoman of the House State Government Committee, which will first consider the vote reform legislation, said a reformed process must also encompass Pennsylvania’s men and women in uniform. “Of particular concern to me is that it is not expressly written in our state constitution that military voters should be able to vote absentee from wherever they are in the word,” she said. “It should be. In fact, we should remove all the archaic barriers that prevent Pennsylvanians from voting.”