Breaking News
Local News

Election law changes seem likely

By Josh Cotton 2 min read

The contentious nature of the most recent election is certain to result in some form of changes to the state's election laws.

The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania has presented a report calling for two specific legislative fixes -- the ability to precanvass mail-in and absentee ballots prior to election day and shifting back the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot.

For a group of 39 county commissioners -- including Warren County Commissioner Ben Kafferlin -- that doesn't go far enough.

That group signed off on a letter to Jake Corman, president pro tempore of the state Senate, and Bryan Cutler, speaker of the state House, outlining their concerns.

Calling Act 77 which created the mail-in ballot process in Pennsylvania "seriously flawed," the group of commissioners write that the passage of the legislation was "well meaning" but "a mistake. It brought changes that were problematic and opened the door to confusion and irregularities."

They assert that the mail-in ballot created by the act is "in opposition to the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which has only certain limited provisions for absentee voting" and outline several "substantial and improper changes" made by the courts and Pa. Department of State in the runup to the election.

"This is bigger than any one candidate or party," they write. "It is about ensuring we have a system our citizens trust…. The law as it currently exists makes this almost impossible."

All of the commissioners who signed on to the letter are Republicans. Would the message be the same if former President Trump had won?

"Absolutely," Kafferlin said. "I was saying this before the election."

He said CCAP's recommendation about pre-canvassing is "not going to make a huge difference to Warren County."

Last fall, the county completed the precanvass process in a day, through "admittedly, we had to pull in extra staff. We still got it done," he said.

He expressed concern about what could happen if the counties can precanvass in the days and weeks before election day.

"If we're opening ballots for election day, if you don't like them, a lot of people are touching them, does that open up room for some to disappear?

"I feel less secure under the current election legislation than we did before," he added. "There are more people touching the ballots, seeing the ballots, more room for human error."

Starting at /week.