Test Drive Our New Site! We have some improvements in the works that we're excited for you to experience. Click here to try our new, faster, mobile friendly beta site. We will be maintaining our current version of the site thru the end of 2024, so you can switch back as our improvements continue.
Legislation Quick Search
10/13/2024 10:45 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=35709&mobile_choice=suppress
Share:
Home / Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Subscribe to PaLegis Notifications
NEW!

Subscribe to receive notifications of new Co-Sponsorship Memos circulated

By Member | By Date | Keyword Search


Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: May 21, 2021 03:54 PM
From: Senator Ryan P. Aument
To: All Senate members
Subject: Suspension of No-excuse Mail-in Ballots
 
Over the past five months, committees in both the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives have received testimony regarding the Commonwealth’s election procedures and policies.  It’s no secret that due to the changes enacted in Act 77, coupled with the impact of the pandemic, the legislature and state have heard many complaints from voters and election officials alike.
 
In addition to the necessary adjustments to the law that have been requested from various parties, Lancaster County had a nightmare experience with mail-in ballots during the most recent primary.  First, more than 2,700 voters received incorrect instructions on how to return their mail-in ballot while voters in Mount Joy received the wrong ballots and return envelopes.  Then, on election day, it was discovered that approximately 14,000 mail-in ballots had been printed with their pages out of order, making them unable to be read and tallied by the voting machines and necessitating a hand count. 
 
The errors were traced to Michigan Election Resources, the vendor Lancaster County contracted with to print, package, and send out mail-in ballots. Previously, most absentee ballots were prepped for mail and sent out from the county elections office.  However, the volume of these requests after Act 77 have required counties such as Lancaster to turn to outside vendors for assistance. Though this particular vendor has taken responsibility for the errors, these examples have only added to the confusion and distrust surrounding mail-in voting in my district.
 
To that end, I intend to introduce legislation that would suspend the use of no-excuse mail-in ballots until the Spring of 2023 or until elected leaders can come together to make the necessary adjustments to this law to address the various issues presented to the legislature as well as the most recent experience with a bad vendor in Lancaster County.
 
Parties on both sides of aisle have acknowledged issues stemming from the current statute that necessitate a change in the law.  We must address these inadequacies if we are to restore confidence in the election system and the results they produce.
 




Introduced as SB914