4 things need to change to improve election process, Gov. Wolf says

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, calling on lawmakers to come together to make sure ballots can easily be counted, said there are four things that need to change before November’s election.

On Wednesday, the House State Government Committee is scheduled to meet, expected to talk about the election code and overall setup.

Wolf wants lawmakers to come together to make changes to the election process so everyone has ballots and their votes can count.

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The following four specific actions to improve the process were laid out by Wolf:

1. Allow counties to pre-canvas ballots ahead of Election Day. (This means taking the mail-in ballots out of the envelopes to fold them.)
2. Require requested ballots be sent out sooner. (Wolf wants 28 days ahead instead of 14.)
3. Allow counties to be flexible in filling vacant poll worker jobs.
4. Allow mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day and received by that Friday.

“Our county election offices need these changes and they need them now. I’m calling on the general assembly to act this week to make sure our local election officials have the tools and resources they need to process votes in a timely manner,” Wolf said.

Ballots should have started going out to Pennsylvania voters Monday, but that has been delayed because of a slew of lawsuits.

A spokesperson for the Department of State assured counties will have plenty of time to print and send out mail-in ballots, adding ballots are normally finalized three to five weeks out from an election.

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Cox Media Group