Yesterday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Gov. Tom Wolf is now open to enhancing voter ID requirements in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. While this revelation would have been more welcomed a month ago as the General Assembly was moving HB 1300 of 2021 through the legislative process, it is a productive development. Soon, I plan to reintroduce the Pennsylvania Voting Rights Protection Act (HB 1300 of 2021) which protects our voting rights through three broad concepts: - Increased Access
- Increased Security
- Modernization
We know access and security are not mutually exclusive. The Pennsylvania Voting Rights Protection Act is solely predicated on the House State Government Committee’s extensive election oversight hearings, the most extensive election oversight work in the entire country: - 10 comprehensive election oversight hearings
- 52 testifiers including PA election directors, other state election experts, national election experts, left-leaning, and right-leaning election policy advocacy groups.
- Over 30 hours of hearing time
The Pennsylvania Voting Rights Protection Act language is updated from HB 1300 of 2021 to include the following:
- A01789 (Rep. Jared Solomon) - improves poll worker retention efforts
- A01793 (Rep. Jared Solomon) - modernizes polling location language
- A01796 (Rep. Jared Solomon) - modernizes delivery of ballots and supplies to Judge of Elections
- A01870 (Rep. Mark Longetti) - only the portions of the amendment updating "second Tuesday" to "15 days"
- The independent prosecutor language was updated:
- Attorney General shall appoint 90 days prior to the primary election with a Senate confirmation
- County District Attorneys shall designate a prosecutor as a county election integrity officer and county board of elections shall include them in all their correspondences/election processes.
- County election equipment funding shall be through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
- An appropriation of $3.1 million to operate the Bureau of Election Audits.
The Pennsylvania Voting Rights Protection Act is a commonsense approach to help voters, help counties, and ensure trust in our elections. I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this important legislation. HB 1300 of 2021 cosponsors: GROVE, RYAN, E. NELSON, ORTITAY, SCHEMEL, LEWIS, WHEELAND, OWLETT, R. MACKENZIE, STAATS, GILLEN, FLOOD, RADER, JOZWIAK, BERNSTINE, LEWIS DELROSSO, KNOWLES, COOK, SILVIS, STAMBAUGH, ROTHMAN, RIGBY, SONNEY, OBERLANDER, HELM, SCHMITT, STRUZZI, MILLARD, MASSER, KERWIN, MERCURI, GILLESPIE, CAUSER and FRITZ |