Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes elections regulations, including in-person early voting and voting by mail in Pennsylvania.

Highlights:

• Increases the minimum payment for election clerks and machine operators from $75 to $175 (Sec. 2).

• Requires the County Board of Elections to select ballot drop box locations within a county for each election, and publicly announce the location, hours, return deadline, and contact information for the Board at least 55 days prior to a regular election, and at least 20 days prior to a special election (Sec. 3).

• Requires each county to provide at least two ballot drop box locations for each election, and requires counties with over 100,000 residents to provide an additional drop box for every 50,000 residents over 100,000 (Sec. 3).

• Requires ballot drop boxes to be secured by a lock and tamper-evident seal, and be under video surveillance for the duration of its deployment during an election (Sec. 3).

• Requires counties to make ballot drop boxes available for use by voters at least 30 days before an election (Sec. 3).

• Requires the Department of State to facilitate each county in performing, in public view, a post-election audit of a random sample of ballots to ensure accuracy of the counting system for statewide elections (Sec. 5).

• Requires each County Board of Elections to use an electronic poll book that serves as the district register for every voting location and which must be used for the following (Sec. 6):

• Voters’ certificates;

• Voting check lists;

• Numbered lists of voters;

• District registers;

• The management of district registers during elections; and

• Any other use deemed necessary by the Secretary of State.

• Authorizes the Department of State to issue bonds for the funding of electronic poll books for counties up to the total amount of $60,000,000 (Sec. 6).

• Authorizes counties to apply to the Department of State to receive funding or reimbursement for the purchase or lease of electronic poll books and other election infrastructure equipment (Sec. 6).

• Requires County Boards of Elections to count portions of provisional ballots that a voter would have been eligible for in their proper district in the case that a vote is cast in an incorrect district (Sec. 7).

• Repeals language that prohibits the counting of a provisional ballot that does not contain a secrecy envelope (Sec. 7).

• Repeals language that authorizes any elector, election officer, overseer, or watcher to challenge an elector on their identity and residence in that election district (Sec. 7).

• Requires each County Board of Elections to provide a period of in-person early voting, with the following guidelines (Sec. 8):

• Ballots must be issued upon request by a registered elector at any early voting location in the county of their residence;

• Each ballot style must be available in each early voting location;

• Early voting election officials must verify;

• That a voter is a registered elector;

• The election district in which the voter is registered;

• The proper ballot of the election district in which the registered elector is entitled to vote; and

• The applicant’s registration from the most recent district register.

• An election official must maintain a list of all voters who vote early in-person;

• Electors who believe they have been erroneously listed as having voted must be permitted to cast a provisional ballot;

• At least one early voting location must be established in each county, with an additional location for every 100,000 registered voters in that county;

• Early voting locations must open 11 days prior to the date of an election and extend through the Sunday before election day; and

• The location of each early voting location must be published at least 30 days prior to an election.

• Requires County Boards of Elections to provide prepaid postage for mail-in ballots (Sec. 9).

• Repeals the requirement for electors to date the envelope in which they return a mail-in ballot in order for it to be counted (Sec. 9).

• Requires County Boards of Elections to notify a voter within 24 hours of the discovery of the absence of a signature on a returned mail ballot, and provide a cure form containing fields that provide an opportunity for the voter to verify their identity (Sec. 10).

• Authorizes County Boards of Elections to meet up to seven days prior to an election day to pre-canvass early ballots received up to that point (Sec. 10).

• Authorizes County Boards of Elections to create and label a duplicate ballot in the case that an absentee or mail-in ballot is damaged so that the tabulation equipment cannot count it (Sec. 10).

• Requires the Secretary of State to develop an electronic system for electors to track the status of their absentee or mail-in ballots (Sec. 10).

• Requires applications for mail-in ballots to be submitted by the fourteenth day prior to election day for the request to be processed (Sec. 11).

• Requires petitioners who allege fraud or error in the marking or counting of ballots to specify the particular act of fraud or error they believe to have been committed, and to offer evidence of the allegations (Sec. 13).

• Increases the processing fees for petitions alleging fraud or error in ballot marking or counting from $50 to $850, and the additional fee in the event that no fraud or error is found from $100 to $1,500 (Sec. 13).

• Authorizes Offices of Registration Commission to transfer voter registration information between counties with no additional action from the voter if no errors are present in the request for transfer (Sec. 18).

Full Bill Text