Regular Session 2019-2020 House Bill 1420 P.N. 1749

PRINTER'S NO. 1749

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

No.

1420

Session of

2019

INTRODUCED BY T. DAVIS, DONATUCCI, DAVIDSON, ZABEL, SCHLOSSBERG,

BARRAR, FRANKEL, JOHNSON-HARRELL, McNEILL, HILL-EVANS,

SHUSTERMAN, KENYATTA, DeLUCA, SCHWEYER, McCLINTON, WARREN,

GALLOWAY, HOHENSTEIN, O'MARA, KORTZ AND WILLIAMS, MAY 7, 2019

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, MAY 7, 2019

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), entitled

"An act concerning elections, including general, municipal,

special and primary elections, the nomination of candidates,

primary and election expenses and election contests; creating

and defining membership of county boards of elections;

imposing duties upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth,

courts, county boards of elections, county commissioners;

imposing penalties for violation of the act, and codifying,

revising and consolidating the laws relating thereto; and

repealing certain acts and parts of acts relating to

elections," in voting by qualified absentee electors, further

providing for canvassing of official absentee ballots and

providing for declaration signature verification; and, in

returns of primaries and elections, further providing for

computation of returns by county board, certification and

issuance of certificates of election.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Section 1308(e) of the act of June 3, 1937

(P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code, is

amended to read:

Section 1308. Canvassing of Official Absentee Ballots.--* *

(e) At such time the local election board shall then further

examine the declaration on each envelope not so set aside and

shall compare the information thereon with that contained in the

"Registered Absentee Voters File," the absentee voters' list and

the "Military Veterans and Emergency Civilians Absentee Voters

File." If the local election board is satisfied that the

declaration [is] and the corresponding signature are sufficient

and the information contained in the "Registered Absentee Voters

File," the absentee voters' list and the "Military Veterans and

Emergency Civilians Absentee Voters File" verifies his right to

vote, the local election board shall announce the name of the

elector and shall give any watcher present an opportunity to

challenge any absentee elector upon the ground or grounds (1)

that the absentee elector is not a qualified elector; or (2)

that the absentee elector was within the municipality of his

residence on the day of the primary or election during the

period the polls were open, except where he was in military

service or except in the case where his ballot was obtained for

the reason that he was unable to appear personally at the

polling place because of illness or physical disability; or (3)

that the absentee elector was able to appear personally at the

polling place on the day of the primary or election during the

period the polls were open in the case his ballot was obtained

for the reason that he was unable to appear personally at the

polling place because of illness or physical disability. Upon

challenge of any absentee elector, as set forth herein the local

election board shall mark "challenged" on the envelope together

with the reason or reasons therefor, and the same shall be set

aside for return to the county board unopened pending decision

by the county board and shall not be counted. All absentee

ballots not challenged for any of the reasons provided herein

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shall be counted and included with the general return of paper

ballots or voting machines, as the case may be as follows.

Thereupon, the local election board shall open the envelope of

every unchallenged absentee elector in such manner as not to

destroy the declaration executed thereon. All of such envelopes

on which are printed, stamped or endorsed the words "Official

Absentee Ballot" shall be placed in one or more depositories at

one time and said depository or depositories well shaken and the

envelopes mixed before any envelope is taken therefrom. If any

of these envelopes shall contain any extraneous marks or

identifying symbols other than the words "Official Absentee

Ballot," the envelopes and the ballots contained therein shall

be set aside and declared void. The local election board shall

then break the seals of such envelopes, remove the ballots and

record the votes in the same manner as district election

officers are required to record votes. With respect to the

challenged ballots, they shall be returned to the county board

with the returns of the local election district where they shall

be placed unopened in a secure, safe and sealed container in the

custody of the county board until it shall fix a time and place

for a formal hearing of all such challenges and notice shall be

given where possible to all absentee electors thus challenged

and to every attorney, watcher or candidate who made such

challenge. The time for the hearing shall not be later than

seven (7) days after the date of said challenge. On the day

fixed for said hearing, the county board shall proceed without

delay to hear said challenges and, in hearing the testimony, the

county board shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence.

The testimony presented shall be stenographically recorded and

made part of the record of the hearing. The decision of the

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county board in upholding or dismissing any challenge may be

reviewed by the court of common pleas of the county upon a

petition filed by any person aggrieved by the decision of the

county board. Such appeal shall be taken, within two (2) days

after such decision shall have been made, whether reduced to

writing or not, to the court of common pleas setting forth the

objections to the county board's decision and praying for an

order reversing same. Pending the final determination of all

appeals, the county board shall suspend any action in canvassing

and computing all challenged ballots irrespective of whether or

not appeal was taken from the county board's decision. Upon

completion of the computation of the returns of the county, the

votes cast upon the challenged official absentee ballots shall

be added to the other votes cast within the county.

* * *

Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:

Section 1308.1. Declaration Signature Verification.--(a)

Upon conducting the comparison of the signature on the

declaration under section 1308(e), if the local election board

determines that the signatures do not compare, the envelope

shall not be opened and the ballot shall not be counted. The

election board shall write the cause of the rejection on the

face of the envelope only after completing the procedures

described in subsection (b).

(b) The following procedures shall apply:

(1) At least eight (8) days prior to the certification of

the election, the local election board shall provide to each

elector to which subsection (a) applies notice of the

opportunity to verify the elector's signature no later than five

o'clock P.M. two (2) days prior to the certification of the

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election.

(2) The notice and instructions to the elector to which

subsection (a) applies shall be in substantially the following

form:

"READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE

INSTRUCTIONS MAY CAUSE YOUR ABSENTEE BALLOT NOT TO COUNT.

1. We have determined that the signature you provided on

your absentee ballot does not match the signature(s) on file in

your voter record. In order to ensure that your absentee ballot

will be counted, the signature verification statement must be

completed and returned as soon as possible.

2. The signature verification statement must be received by

the local election board of the county where you are registered

to vote no later than 5:00 P.M. two (2) days prior to the

certification of the election.

3. You must sign your name where specified on the signature

verification statement (Voter's Signature).

4. Place the signature verification statement into a mailing

envelope addressed to your local election board. Mail, deliver

or have the completed statement delivered to the local election

board. Be certain that there is sufficient postage if mailed and

that the address of the local election board is correct.

5. If you do not wish to send the signature verification

statement by mail or have it delivered, you may submit your

completed statement by e-mail or facsimile transmission to your

local election board using the information provided."

(3) The local election board may not reject an absentee

ballot under subsection (a) if each of the following conditions

is satisfied:

(i) The elector delivers, in person, by mail, by fax or by

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e-mail, a signature verification statement signed by the

elector, and the local election board receives the statement no

later than five o'clock P.M. two (2) days prior to the

certification of the election.

(ii) Upon receipt of the signature verification statement,

the local election board shall compare the signature on the

statement with the signature on file in the elector's record.

The following shall apply:

(A) If, upon conducting the comparison of signatures, the

local election board determines that the signatures compare, the

ballot, still in the envelope, shall be deposited in a ballot

container in the office.

(B) If, upon conducting the comparison of signatures, the

local election board determines that the signatures do not

compare, the envelope shall not be opened and the ballot shall

not be counted. The local election board shall write the cause

of the rejection on the face of the envelope.

(4) The signature verification statement shall be in

substantially the following form and may be included on the same

page as the notice and instructions specified in paragraph (2):

"SIGNATURE VERIFICATION STATEMENT

I, , am a registered voter of County,

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I declare under penalty of perjury

that I requested and returned an absentee ballot. I am a

resident of the precinct in which I have voted, and I am the

person whose name appears on the absentee ballot envelope. I

understand that if I commit or attempt any fraud in connection

with voting, or if I aid or abet fraud or attempt to aid and

abet fraud in connection with voting, I may be convicted of a

misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or

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imprisonment a term not exceeding five years, or both, at the

discretion of the court. I understand that my failure to sign

this statement means that my absentee ballot will be

invalidated.

Voter's Signature

Address"

(5) The local election board shall include the absentee

ballot signature verification statement and instructions

provided in this section on its publicly accessible Internet

website and shall provide the local election board's mailing

address, e-mail address and facsimile transmission number on the

web page containing the statement and instructions.

(6) If the local election board determines that the

signatures compare, the board shall use the signature in the

signature verification statement, even if returned untimely, to

update the elector's signature for future elections.

(1) The following procedures shall apply:

(i) Notwithstanding any other law, if a local election board

determines that an elector has failed to sign the envelope, the

local election board shall not reject the absentee ballot if the

elector does any of the following:

(A) Signs the envelope at the office of the local election

board during regular business hours before five o'clock P.M. on

the eighth day after the election.

(B) Before five o'clock P.M. on the eighth day after the

election, completes and submits an unsigned ballot statement in

substantially the following form:

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"UNSIGNED BALLOT STATEMENT

I, , am a registered voter of County,

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I declare under penalty of perjury

that I requested and returned an absentee ballot and that I have

not and will not vote more than one ballot in this election. I

am a resident of the precinct in which I have voted, and I am

the person whose name appears on the absentee ballot envelope. I

understand that if I commit or attempt any fraud in connection

with voting, or if I aid or abet fraud or attempt to aid and

abet fraud in connection with voting, I may be convicted of a

misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or

imprisonment a term not exceeding five years, or both, at the

discretion of the court. I understand that my failure to sign

this statement means that my absentee ballot will be

invalidated.

Voter's Signature

Address"

(ii) If timely submitted, the local election board shall

accept a completed unsigned ballot statement. Upon receipt of

the unsigned ballot statement, the local election board shall

compare the elector's signature on the statement in the manner

provided by section 1308(e). The following shall apply:

(A) If the local election board determines that the

signatures compare, the unsigned ballot statement shall be

attached to the envelope and deposited in a ballot container in

the office.

(B) If the local election board determines that the

signatures do not compare, the envelope shall not be opened and

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the ballot shall not be counted.

(iii) The local election board may use methods other than

those described in subclause (i) to obtain an elector's

signature on an unsigned ballot envelope.

(2) Instructions shall accompany the unsigned ballot

statement in substantially the following form:

"READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE COMPLETING THE

STATEMENT. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS MAY CAUSE YOUR

ABSENTEE BALLOT NOT TO COUNT.

1. In order to ensure that your absentee ballot will be

counted, your statement should be completed and returned as soon

as possible so that it can reach the local election board of the

county in which your precinct is located no later than 5:00 P.M.

on the eighth day after the election.

2. You must sign your name on the line above (Voter's

Signature).

3. Place the statement into a mailing envelope addressed to

your local election board. Mail, deliver or have delivered the

completed statement to the local election board. Be certain that

there is sufficient postage if mailed and that the address of

the local election board is correct.

4. If you do not wish to send the statement by mail or have

it delivered, you may submit your completed statement by

facsimile or e-mail transmission to your local election board."

(3) The local election board shall include the unsigned

ballot statement and instructions provided in this subsection on

its publicly accessible Internet website and shall provide the

local election board's mailing address, e-mail address and

facsimile transmission number on the web page containing the

statement and instructions.

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(d) An absentee ballot shall not be removed from its

envelope until the time for processing ballots. An absentee

ballot shall not be rejected for cause after the envelope has

been opened.

Section 3. Section 1404(f) of the act is amended to read:

Section 1404. Computation of Returns by County Board;

Certification; Issuance of Certificates of Election.--* * *

(f) As the returns from each election district are read,

computed and found to be correct or corrected as aforesaid, they

shall be recorded on the blanks prepared for the purpose until

all the returns from the various election districts which are

entitled to be counted shall have been duly recorded, when they

shall be added together, announced and attested by the clerks

who made and computed the entries respectively and signed by the

members of the county board. Returns under this subsection shall

be considered unofficial for [five (5)] twenty-five (25) days.

The county board shall submit the unofficial returns to the

Secretary of the Commonwealth by five o'clock P. M. on the

fourth Tuesday following the election. The submission shall be

as directed by the secretary for public office which appears on

the ballot in every election district in this Commonwealth or

for a ballot question which appears on the ballot in every

election district in this Commonwealth. At the expiration of

[five (5)] twenty-five (25) days after the completion of the

computation of votes, in case no petition for a recount or

recanvass has been filed in accordance with the provisions of

this act, or upon the completion of the recount or recanvass if

a petition therefor has been filed within [five (5)] twenty-five

(25) days after the completion of the computation of votes, the

county board shall certify the returns so computed in said

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county in the manner required by this act, unless upon appeals

taken from any decision, the court of common pleas shall have

directed any returns to be revised, or unless in case of a

recount, errors in the said returns shall have been found, in

which case said returns shall be revised, corrected and

certified accordingly. The county board shall thereupon, in the

case of elections, issue certificates of election to the

successful candidates for all county, city, borough, township,

ward, school district, poor district and election offices, and

local party offices to be filled by the votes of the electors of

said county, or of any part thereof.

* * *

Section 4. This act shall take effect in 90 days.

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