Pennsylvania: Allegheny County doesn’t know how many duplicate ballots it mailed out | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The manager of Allegheny County’s elections division said Friday he doesn’t know how many duplicate ballots were mailed out in recent weeks, but that duplicate mailings did occur, the problem is under control and he now has no concerns about the department’s ability to mail and count ballots for the June 2 primary. In a conference call with reporters, Dave Voye, who manages the division that’s had to process a massive influx of vote-by-mail applications and ballots as voters look for an alternative to in-person voting amid COVID-19, said the department started to notice there was a problem with duplicate ballots at the end of April. Several voters told the Post-Gazette this month that they had applied for a mail-in or absentee ballot and received more than one in the mail. The county released a statement on the issue Thursday, and said it was the result of a bug in the state’s voter registration system. “We figured it out and stopped it earlier this week,” Mr. Voye said, noting that the county was trying to process batches of mailing labels that were too large. The system was timing out and pushing the printed labels back into the queue to be printed again.

Pennsylvania: Election security experts urge Pennsylvania to begin planning for expanded mail-in voting this fall | Deb Erdley/Tribune-Review

With the Pennsylvania primary three weeks away, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security say the state must begin planning immediately for secure balloting in the Nov. 3 presidential election.

“Bold action is needed on nearly every front here in Pennsylvania, in the United States and around the world. … A hotly contested presidential election, unsterilized machines, short-staffed polling places and crowds of voters and poll workers in close quarters could all contribute to the spread of coronavirus and undermine orderly election administration,” according to a new report from the Pitt Institute.

Institute Policy Director Christopher Deluzio said any election action plan for November should include mailing every registered voter an application for a mail in ballot for the general election. The new report recommended adopting plans to provide safe polling places, recruiting poll workers from local colleges or groups that are at least risk for infection and planning for voter education.

Although Pennsylvania was able to easily move the primary election from April 28 to June 2 to protect public health in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, there are no easy options should the pandemic threat fail to abate by Nov. 3, Deluzio said.

He dismissed a flurry of speculation prompted by comments President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner made when he told the New York Times he could not rule out pushing back the November election.

“There is no mechanism for the president to change the date of the election in November absent action from Congress,” Deluzio said.

Pitt Institute researchers dismissed claims that mail-in balloting would give either party an advantage or increase the potential for fraud.

“The evidence simply does not support that,” DeLuzio said, pointing to studies by researchers at Stanford University and the Brennen Center for Justice. Both studies concluded that there was no increase in fraud or political advantage in states that have long had mail-in voting.

The Pitt report cautioned states against looking to online voting to resolve public health concerns.

“It is not secure and there is potential for fraud there,” Deluzio said.

He estimated it would cost Pennsylvania about $55 million more to send every voter a ballot application for the November election, mail out ballots with return postage and then tabulate them.

Allegheny County has already taken that advice to heart, recently moving to send every registered voter an application for a mail in ballot for the primary.

This is the first year Pennsylvania voters have had the option of mail-in voting.

Gov. Tom Wolf has encouraged voters with health concerns to consider mail-in balloting in the June 2 primary.

Voters have until Tuesday, May 26 to request a mail in ballot at VotesPA.com and until 8 p.m. June 2 to return ballots to their county election bureau.

State records that show about a million Pennsylvanians applying for mail in ballots suggested fear of infection at the polling places may be driving many to become early adopters of the new option.

Even counties that have made no effort to promote it have seen a surge in mail-in voting.

Pennsylvania: Glitch Sends Duplicate Ballots To Voters, But System Prevents Double-Voting, Allegheny County Says | Chris Potter/NPR

Allegheny County's efforts to encourage mail-in voting for the June 2nd primary may be almost too successful: A state database has apparently sent out duplicate ballots as it struggles to keep up with demand – although the county says no matter how many ballots come in the mail, no one will get more than a single vote. In a release sent out late Thursday afternoon, the county’s Election Division said that a problem with the state’s SURE system, a voter registration database, has caused the printing of duplicate labels for mailing and absentee ballots. According to the release, that’s because printing orders are so large that the system is “timing out”: When an employee clears that condition, the system sends the rest of the job to the printer, while apparently also returning the job to the queue to be reprinted again. The issue is “impacting only Allegheny County at this time due to the successful effort in encouraging the mail-in ballot option with residents,” the statement said. It said county workers have addressed the problem by requesting smaller print batches and monitoring processing times. It is not clear how many voters have received duplicate ballots, or for how long the problem persisted. A county spokeswoman said there was "no way to know" the scope of the problem. 

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Looks to Slash Polling Places in June 2 Primary | Associated Press

Philadelphia's election commissioners voted Wednesday to reduce polling places by nearly 80% in the state's June 2 primary election as local officials try to adapt to problems finding polling locations and recruiting poll workers amid fears of the coronavirus. The plan, which still requires state approval, would reduce the number of polling places in the nation's sixth-most populous city from 831 to 190 locations. Election commissioners cited the difficulty of finding polling workers and the need to find sites that can safely accommodate the disabled and voters practicing social distancing. A state law that passed in March delayed the primary election from April 28 to June 2 and allowed counties to consolidate polling places in the primary election by up to 60%, without court approval. Several counties, including Allegheny County, the state's second-most populous after Philadelphia, have contacted the state about reducing their polling locations by more than 60%, according to state officials. Allegheny County voted last month to reduce its polling places from more than 1,300 to 200 to 300 locations, or by almost 80% at least.

Pennsylvania: GOP groups, nonprofits in fight over mail-in ballot deadline for Pennsylvania primary, general election | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Warning that pandemic-induced bureaucratic delays could prevent many Pennsylvanians from submitting their mail-in and absentee ballots on time before the 8 p.m. cutoff in the state’s June 2 primary and November’s general Election Day, a group of nonprofits are asking the state Supreme Court to step in and force the state to extend its deadline. State and national Republican groups, meanwhile, are trying to get the case thrown out. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania, Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee filed a motion this week asking the court to let them intervene in the matter, insisting that if the court were to compel a change to the ballot deadline, it would upend the “orderly” administration of the election, alter the competitive landscape and undermine laws that protect their voters and candidates. They also allege that the original lawsuit’s dire warnings of voter disenfranchisement are based not on facts, but on “wild guesses dressed up in soaring rhetoric,” according to their court filing. If approved, the Republican apparatus would get to intervene in a case where the nonprofits — led by one that represents more than a million Pennsylvanians with disabilities — want ballots that were sent or postmarked by the Nov. 3 Election Day and received by county elections offices within the following seven days to be considered valid.

Pennsylvania: State allows big reduction in poll workers for 2020 primary election to help counties during pandemic | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Pennsylvania’s county election officials are receiving some relief from state requirements. Counties will be allowed to run the June 2 primary election with fewer than half the normal number of poll workers, the Pennsylvania Department of State said Wednesday evening, with a minimum of five workers per polling place regardless of how many precincts it serves. That will help relieve pressure to fill poll-worker slots. While recruitment has been a challenge for years, the older average age of poll workers makes them vulnerable to the coronavirus. Across the state, counties have heard from poll workers scared to work the primary because of health risk. (State officials have even considered deploying the National Guard to serve as poll workers.) “Poll worker recruitment is always hard, but it is especially hard when whole election boards are telling us that they will not be working due to COVID-19, like they are doing this election,” said Lisa Deeley, chair of the Philadelphia Board of City Commissioners, which normally has to recruit, train, and oversee thousands of poll workers. “Under these circumstances, every little bit that makes running election day easier is helpful.”

Pennsylvania: As Poll Workers Worry About Safety, Staffing For June Primary Will Be A Challenge | Katie Meyer(WHYY

This week, after much deliberation, Nancy Nylund decided that she’s staying home this primary. “It was actually quite agonizing because I love working at the polls,” she said. Nylund, 68, has served as an inspector of elections in her Plymouth Meeting precinct for several years. But she is also on immunosuppressant medication for her rheumatoid arthritis, and so she decided she didn’t want to risk coming into contact with someone infected with COVID-19. As a retired nurse, she knows what would be at stake. “Of course it makes it more risky, since I’m considered immunosuppressed, to be sitting three feet from people checking the books,” she said. Across Pennsylvania, other poll workers are facing the same dilemma as the primary election approaches. Poll workers have to decide whether to disregard pandemic best practices and commit to sitting in a polling place for an entire day, and county and state officials have to figure out ways to keep those workers and voters safe while not infringing on anyone’s rights.

Pennsylvania: How do you prevent a disputed 2020 election in Pennsylvania? Lessons from an expert panel | onathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Imagine: Philadelphia elections officials, overwhelmed by the number of voters requesting absentee ballots, can’t get them all in the mail in time. Voters sue in state court, which orders a change in the deadlines. Republicans go to federal court to stop them. We don’t know who won Pennsylvania, and the White House hangs in the balance. That was one of the nightmare scenarios discussed in a virtual gathering of national election law experts Monday, convened by Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. The discussion focused on current weaknesses in the electoral system — and ways to shore it up to prevent a disaster in November. “You should try to predict things going wrong so that you can figure out what to do about it,” said Ned Foley, one of the Ohio State law professors who organized the event. “When you think your ship is unsinkable … that’s where you’re in trouble, because it turns out you didn’t have enough lifeboats for the Titanic.” “State supreme courts are free to go beyond federal precedent,” said Michael Morley, a law professor at Florida State University. “They’re able to go beyond what a federal court would do.”

Pennsylvania: Counties could be overwhelmed by mail-in ballots, election directors warn | Emily Previti/PA Post

County election directors, anxious about how the coronavirus epidemic could affect the June 2 primary election, are calling on state lawmakers to step in to prevent chaos at the polls. But it may be too late for action by the legislature or Department of State to ensure voting goes smoothly, said Mercer County Elections Director Jeff Greenburg. “Counties were not built for this either administratively or through human capital,” Greenburg said. “There aren’t enough people or enough hours in a day, in many places, to overcome that.” Greenburg was one of three election directors who spoke Thursday during a virtual meeting of the state Senate’s State Government Committee to warn a wave of vote-by-mail applications could overwhelm elections offices that are already grappling with how to organize in-person voting while protecting poll workers and voters from exposure to the coronavirus. “The best solution might have been — and it may be too late to pivot now — to have simply mailed all registered voters a ballot,” he said. “That’s the only way to avoid a situation where counties will not be able to process all applications in a timely fashion.”

Pennsylvania: Pitt report says Congress needs to step up funding to Pennsylvania for election costs amid pandemic | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Congress has provided less than a fifth of the funding that Pennsylvania needs to prepare its 2020 elections for the impacts of COVID-19, according to a new report co-authored by the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security. The collaborative report, based on cost analysis and interviews with state and local elections officials in five states, estimated that Pennsylvania will need between $79.1 million and $90.1 million to hold safe, secure and fair elections this year, warning that that the $14.2 million allocated so far by the federal government is nowhere near enough to “ensure a system that is sufficiently resilient against pandemics or other emergencies.” Estimates showed that the cost to prepare for elections in the five states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Missouri and Ohio — already exceeds the $400 million Congress allocated across the entire country in its third stimulus package in March. “What’s clear to me and what’s clear to others is that state and local officials really need more money, and Congress ought to be the one stepping in to do that,” said Christopher Deluzio, policy director for Pitt’s institute.

Pennsylvania: Counties struggle to find enough masks, gloves for in-person voting June 2 | Emily Previti/PA Post

Pennsylvania election directors face the unprecedented challenge of staffing voting locations for the June 2 primary while also taking steps to protect workers and voters from the coronavirus (and handling a historic number mailed ballots). Many say they aren’t ready. Personal protective equipment – mask, gloves, hand sanitizers and other materials often referred to collectively by the acronym “PPE” – remains difficult or impossible to acquire, county elections officials said. Berks County officials, for example, said they’ve obtained some items — such as gloves and hand sanitizer — for poll workers to use on June 2. But the county still faces “widespread issues surrounding PPE” acquisition in general, according to Brian A. Gottschall, the county’s director of Emergency Services. “It is really all about what product, what quality, what quantity, and what are you willing to pay. All of those things are coming into play with respect to delivery timing,” Gottschall said.

Pennsylvania: Judge rejects push from Green Party’s Jill Stein to decertify Philly voting machines as ‘daft,’ ‘ill-considered,’ and ‘pointless’ | Jeremy Roebuck/Philadelphia Inquirer

Calling her theories “daft,” “ill-considered,” and “pointless,” a federal judge in Philadelphia on Wednesday rejected a push from former Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein to decertify Philadelphia’s new voting machines in advance of the June 2 primary over concerns they could be vulnerable to hacking. In an opinion, dripping with disdain for the “failed candidate’s” legal case, U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond found there was “no credible evidence” to support Stein’s concerns and that granting her request would effectively disenfranchise Philadelphia voters, as there would be no way to replace the machines with new ones in time for the election. “The Commonwealth and the city have expended considerable resources to demonstrate that Dr. Stein has based her motion on absolutely nothing,” he wrote.

Pennsylvania: As counties look to consolidate polling places, advocates worry about voter disenfranchisement | Ivey DeJesus/PennLive

Elections officials across the state are bracing for a walk-out of sorts. Not technically a walk-out but a no-show.With the current coronavirus pandemic still ratcheting up the count of positive cases and deaths across Pennsylvania, election officials  are worried that poll workers are thinking twice about working on June 2, the newly designated primary date. The prospect is pushing up against the idea of further consolidating polling places. The underlying reason: Poll workers tend to be older individuals - typically retired - and as such, they belong to one of the most COVID-19 vulnerable demographics. Election officials are concerned that with the lethal virus still a threat, poll workers will decide to stay home on election day rather than risk exposure to the deadly virus. I‘m in touch with inspectors and judges to see what their comfort level is and I can tell you right now today I‘m going to be missing 30 percent of poll workers,” said Jerry Feaser, director of the Dauphin County Office of Elections and Voter Registration. “That varies from poll workers not willing to serve given the conditions to precincts where maybe a handful of poll workers would be missing.”

Pennsylvania: Luzerne County manager proposes hand marked paper ballots for in-person voting June 2 | April 28, 2020 Jennifer Andes/Times Leader

Non-disabled Luzerne County voters casting their ballots in person on June 2 would use paper ballots instead of the new electronic touchscreen ballot marking devices under a preliminary coronavirus plan presented Tuesday. Each voter would receive a pen to make their selections on paper so no pens would be shared and then feed the paper into a scanner to be tabulated, plan drafter county Manager C. David Pedri told council in its virtual meeting. Each polling place would still be equipped with an electronic machine for voters with visual impairments or other disabilities that prevent them from using paper ballots, with cleaning after each use, he said. Paper is a better option for this primary because it alleviates coronavirus concerns about touchscreens, Pedri said. A day of repeated screen wiping and drying also could slow up voting and damage the equipment, election workers have said.

Pennsylvania: Lawsuit seeks to extend mailed ballot return by a week | Emily Previti/PA Post

Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit late Monday seeking to give voters more time to return their ballots for the upcoming presidential primary. Voters who request absentee and mail-in ballots before the May 26 deadline might receive them at different times due to “factors outside their control, such as variation in mail delivery schedules across the commonwealth or application processing [by] county elections boards,” attorneys from the Public Interest Law Center allege in the 67-page document. Voters could end up getting their ballots late enough that they’d feel compelled to deliver them in person to ensure they’re counted – a health risk given the coronavirus pandemic, the suit contends, also noting about 10,000 voters faced that very scenario in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. Plaintiffs include Disability Rights Pennsylvania, nonprofits SeniorLAW and Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition, and visually impaired and senior voters. They are asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to change the rules so that any absentee and mail-in ballot must be counted so long as the voter sends it by June 2 and counties get it by June 9. Currently, voters have until May 26 to request an absentee or mail-in ballot and must return it by 8 p.m. June 2.

Pennsylvania: A key Democratic group is suing to ease Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail laws | Jonathan Tamari/Philadelphia Inquirer

A major Democratic political group is backing a new lawsuit aiming to make it easier to vote by mail in Pennsylvania because of the coronavirus crisis. The suit was filed Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans and funded by Priorities USA, the main super PAC supporting likely presidential nominee Joe Biden. The suit cites obstacles created by the pandemic — including health risks for voters and poll workers — as requiring expanded mail voting. ... The lawsuit is part of a national fight around voting laws, one that has become increasingly critical as the coronavirus has disrupted elections. Both parties are scrambling to adapt for elections almost certain to rely heavily on mail-in voting. The Pennsylvania suit prominently cites the April 7 primary election fiasco in Wisconsin, where numerous polling places were closed, state officials were overwhelmed by a flood of mail-in ballot requests, and many ballots did not reach voters in time, leading to long lines at polling sites, despite a stay-at-home order.

Pennsylvania: Paper ballots at Crawford County polling places for June 2 election | Keith Gushard/Meadville Tribune

It will be paper ballots at Crawford County’s polling precincts during Pennsylvania’s primary election, now scheduled for June 2. Crawford County Board of Elections members voted unanimously Wednesday to move a paper ballot format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The switch will allow for a less potential spread of the virus than using the electronic voting machines, according to board members. The electronic voting machines would require cleaning of touch screens after each use by a voter which could slow the process. However, each of the county’s 68 precincts still will have an electronic voting machine to comply with federal handicapped-accessibility laws, said Rebecca Little, director of the county’s Election and Voter Services Office.

Pennsylvania: Why some election officials oppose a mail-only primary: ‘Considerable potential for serious problems’ | Ivey DeJesus/Patriot-News

Pennsylvania last year expanded access to voting by mail. Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law giving voters the option to vote by mail without having to explain why they can’t cast a ballot in person. Now amid concerns over the highly contagious coronavirus pandemic, some of the state’s largest counties want the upcoming June 2 primary to be carried out exclusively via mail-in ballot. The idea is to do away with in-person voting, which could put poll workers as well as voters at risk of exposure to the coronavirus. More than 34,000 people in Pennsylvania have contracted the virus and more than 1,500 have died, according to the state Department of Health. The proposal already has support among some officials in Allegheny County as well as some of the hardest COVID-19-hit suburban Philadelphia counties, including Montgomery and Chester. But the proposal has engendered some opposition - particularly across central Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania: How hard will it be to vote during the coronavirus? It depends on where you live. | onathan Tamari and Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

If you’re a Pennsylvanian who wants to vote by mail this year, you can — but make sure your ballot arrives by 8 p.m. on Election Day. If you’re in New Jersey, you have more time. Your ballot will be counted as long as it’s postmarked by Election Day and arrives within 48 hours of the polls closing. Across Pennsylvania’s northern border in Erie County, N.Y. (home to Buffalo), some polling places open more than a week before Election Day and are scheduled to be available over two weekends, for convenience. In Erie County, Pa., a few miles south, voting early is less flexible. You have to do it with an absentee ballot at the county election office. Weekend hours aren’t certain. (The same goes throughout Pennsylvania.) As states scramble to adapt elections for the coronavirus pandemic, the rules vary widely, each set by seemingly small bureaucratic decisions that together determine how easy or hard it is to vote — and how many people do or don’t. The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has set aside $10 million for legal battles against efforts to make it easier to vote, arguing that looser laws could lead to fraud (though studies show election fraud is rare).

Pennsylvania: Counties home to more than a third of Pennsylvania voters calling for mail-only primary | Emily Previti/PA Post

Officials in more than a dozen Pennsylvania counties home to nearly 3 million voters are calling for an all-mail primary election.  These officials, who serve more than a third of the state’s registered voters, say they know there’s a chance that a June 2 primary with in-person voting will be a problem if coronavirus restrictions are still in place. So they want the state to decide soon whether the election will proceed normally, be switched to mail-only, or be postponed again. On one side are election officials who believe voting entirely by mail would be safest and most practical. Right away, it would resolve problems some counties say they’re having in recruiting and retaining enough poll workers to staff voting locations. Counties also report that venues that host polling places are declining to open their doors for the primary.

Pennsylvania: Allegheny County might soon send all county voters mail-in ballot applications with prepaid postage | News | Pittsburgh | Ryan Deto/Pittsburgh City Paper

Given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, gatherings of just about any kind have been prohibited and discouraged as much as humanly possible. With that in mind, and a primary election upcoming, Allegheny County Council could be taking action shortly to encourage voters to avoid the in-person polls, and vote by mail instead. Allegheny County Councilor Bethany Hallam (D-Ross) drafted an ordinance that will be introduced tomorrow that would require Allegheny County election officials to send mail-in ballot applications to every registered voter in the county who has not already applied for a mail-in ballot. Last year, Pennsylvanian reformed its election laws to allow all registered voters to vote by mail without an excuse. Hallam’s legislation would require that the county send mail-in ballot applications to registered voters by May 8 at the latest. The deadline to fill out a mail-in ballot application is May 26. The ordinance would also require the mail-in ballot applications sent out by county officials to include prepaid postage. Hallam says Allegheny County residents should not have to endanger their health or well-being in order to exercise their right to vote.

Pennsylvania: Do Republicans oppose vote by mail? In Pennsylvania, it’s not that simple. | by Julia Terruso/Philadelphia Inquirer

President Donald Trump has called mail‐in voting a practice ripe for fraud. He’s said that if elections were to be carried out entirely by mail, a Republican would never be elected again. And yet, Pennsylvania voters this week got mailers from the Republican National Committee encouraging them to apply to vote by mail. The filers described the option as “convenient and secure.” Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill to expand vote by mail before the coronavirus was known. And nationally, Republican governors and secretaries of state have advocated for vote by mail. While the issue has become more partisan since Trump weighed in, the split is more complicated at the state and local level. “I am a conservative Republican,” said Christian Leinbach, chair of the Berks County Board of Commissioners, who wants his county to be able to vote entirely by mail on June 2. “I have conservative Republican friends who believe that’s a really bad idea. I don’t. I believe we need to make voting in the current health crisis as safe as possible.” Experts on voting rights say mail-in ballots have really only been politicized recently. Utah, a deep-red state, is one of five that utilizes mail-in voting almost exclusively. Kim Wyman, Washington’s GOP secretary of state, is an outspoken proponent. And Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine urged an all-mail primary later this month.

Pennsylvania: Coronavirus won’t delay primary again, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar says | Jeremy Long/Reading Eagle

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar is confident the coronavirus will not force the state to move its primary election again. Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill last week that moved the primary from April 28 to June 2 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I think we are in a good place to continue on June 2,” she said. Boockvar said the state has been planning and monitoring the situation daily. “None of us want to be in the position Ohio was where they were deciding, literally, the night before the election if they were going to hold the election the next day,” she said.Boockvar held a virtual press conference with the media Wednesday afternoon to give an update on the state’s election and licensing processes. The bill that Wolf signed last week to move the primary also gave counties flexibility in terms of staffing polling locations and moving polling locations.

Pennsylvania: Lawmakers vote to delay primary until June 2 over coronavirus | Associated Press

Pennsylvania lawmakers voted Wednesday to delay the state’s primary election by five weeks to June 2, potentially past the spike of the state’s spreading coronavirus cases. The measure passed both chambers of the Republican-controlled state Legislature on Wednesday and Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said he will sign it. As a result, Pennsylvania will join more than 10 states in delaying primaries. It comes just a few months after Wolf and lawmakers approved legislation giving every voter the ability to mail in a ballot. Under the bill, Pennsylvania would hold its primary election June 2, instead of April 28, when the state could be in the thick of a surge of COVID-19 cases. Wolf’s administration has steadfastly refused to publicly discuss projections for when it believes the surge of cases will peak, however. But training and recruiting poll workers during that time could prove impossible, lawmakers say.

Pennsylvania: House unanimously backs proposal to delay the 2020 primary due to the coronavirus | Jonathan Lai and Chris Brennan/Philadelphia Inquirer

The Pennsylvania House on Tuesday approved a bipartisan proposal to postpone the 2020 primary by five weeks, until June 2, and allow counties to consolidate polling places amid concerns about the rapidly spreading coronavirus. Representatives unanimously approved the changes in an amendment to a preexisting Senate bill, increasing the prospects the legislation will be on its way to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf for his signature by the end of the week. The proposal also would make several permanent changes to election law, most notably allowing county officials to begin counting absentee and mail-in ballots by 7 a.m. on election days to speed up the posting of returns. “With elections only a month away, and positive coronavirus tests increasing daily, we are at a crossroads,” Rep. Kevin Boyle (D., Phila.) said on the House floor before the vote. He noted the risk of infection to voters and poll workers, especially older citizens: “Pennsylvania must be realistic regarding the impact of the virus on the April 28 election.”

Pennsylvania: Governor, legislative leaders reach deal to postpone 2020 primary for coronavirus | Jonathan Lai, Chris Brennan and Angela Couloumbis /Philadelphia Inquirer

Top Pennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf have reached agreement on postponing the state’s primary election from April 28 until June 2, The Inquirer has learned, with legislation poised to advance Monday and move quickly through the state legislature. The deal was reached after multiple conference calls throughout the day Sunday, including with legislative leaders of the House and Senate caucuses of both parties and the governor’s office, said State Rep. Garth Everett (R., Lycoming), the chair of the House State Government Committee, which will play a key role in moving the proposed legislation. “My understanding as of right now is everybody’s on the same page,” he said Sunday night. “There’s no partisanship, we’re just trying to work together.” His Democratic counterpart on the committee, State Rep. Kevin Boyle of Philadelphia, confirmed the deal. “We’re still on track to move election day to June 2,” Boyle said, calling the effort bipartisan.

Pennsylvania: Postponing April 28 election one option being discussed by governor and state lawmakers | Laura Olson and Ford Turner/The Morning Call

Gov. Tom Wolf and top legislative leaders are working to resolve questions surrounding Pennsylvania’s April 28 primary election, including whether it should be postponed due to public health concerns from the coronavirus, according to several lawmakers involved in that effort. Legislators on a call Thursday with Wolf, including Republican state Sen. Pat Browne of Lehigh County, said they need to come up with answers soon. County election officials have raised concerns about the mounting challenges of processing paperwork, recruiting enough poll workers, and finding appropriate poll sites amid the public health crisis. “The question is, ‘What is a better date?’ and we haven’t arrived at that yet,” said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre. There has been disagreement in the state Capitol not only over whether it’s time to delay the primary, but also whether the governor can do so without action from the state Legislature.

Pennsylvania: Postponing the 2020 Primary over coronavirus is complicated | Julia Terruso and Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Everyday life is suspended. Democracy is not. And now it’s on officials to figure out how to keep it going as pandemic strikes during a presidential election year. During a public health crisis that has upended every corner of life in America, who has the power to change an election? Pennsylvania is now grappling with the question. Pennsylvania’s primary election date is set by state law — in presidential years, for the fourth Tuesday in April — and the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures and Congress the power to set the “times, places, and manners” of federal elections. A postponement would be virtually unassailable if the state House and Senate passed a bill to amend the election code and the governor signed it. “That would be best,” said Adam Bonin, a Democratic election lawyer in Philadelphia. “This is fundamental American constitutionalism, that we are happiest and the system is best when all the branches have the opportunity to weigh in on a question.”

Pennsylvania: Some state lawmakers split on moving April 28 primary | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In the days since Gov. Tom Wolf floated the possibility of postponing the state’s April 28 primary election, Western Pennsylvania lawmakers have grappled with the consequences and implications of holding in-person voting in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to inquiries from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Wednesday, three Allegheny County state legislators said they’d immediately support — or be open to supporting — a suspension of the primary, warning that voters might not want to congregate at polling places and that poll workers might not want to work. Two other state lawmakers said they believe the election should be held as planned, encouraging people to vote by mail if they fear for their safety. The conversation around postponing the state’s primary comes as other states that are scheduled to hold elections on April 28 consider their options in limiting person-to-person contact. Election officials in one of those states — New York — are discussing moving their primary from April 28 to June 23, according to the New York Times.

Pennsylvania: Primary election should be postponed for coronavirus, officials urge | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

County elections officials from across Pennsylvania are urging the state to postpone the 2020 primary election, currently scheduled for April 28 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Elections administrators from five counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the region hardest hit by the outbreak, are drafting a letter to send to Gov. Tom Wolf and the Department of State, which oversees elections, requesting that the primary be delayed until June 23. County officials elsewhere said in interviews that they are making similar pleas to lawmakers and the Wolf administration. “We’re having issues,” said Deborah Olivieri, elections director for Berks County. “Give us the time to do it right.” In addition to public health concerns, the officials say it could be difficult to actually run an election. Some institutions are backing out of serving as polling locations, and some poll workers are saying they can’t work on election day. “We have to be able to literally hold an election,” said Lee Soltysiak, Montgomery County’s chief operating officer and clerk of its elections board. Elections staff have stayed at home as part of a government closure there, and the elections offices in Philadelphia were similarly closed Tuesday and Wednesday this week. That means voters aren’t being registered, absentee ballot applications aren’t being processed, and other election preparations aren’t moving forward.