Pennsylvania counties appreciate the House taking timely action on House Bill 847. Counties have continuously asked for an expanded precanvassing period, which would significantly improve election administration without compromising ballot security.
 
Certainly, there are many areas of Act 77 that need clarification by the General Assembly and administration to help counties fulfill their responsibilities in election administration. However, this simple, rational, commonsense change by itself would give counties more time to prepare mail-in and absentee ballots for counting and would help manage workloads and resources, ensuring timely availability of results.
 
We hope the simplicity of this bill will encourage the Senate to act quickly to move the bill as currently written to the Governor’s desk so that it can be implemented for what promises to be a high turnout, high profile General Election in November.