Democratic State Reps. Tina Davis, (Bucks) and Chris Pielli, (Chester,) are introducing a bill to extend Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot deadline. Current law states that mail-in ballots must be received by county election offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Pielli said the current law, combined with the U.S. Postal Service’s new policy of applying postmarks at regional sorting facilities instead of local post offices, can result in legitimate and timely mail-in and absentee ballots missing the Election Day deadline.
To fix this issue, Pielli and Davis’ bill will extend the mail-in ballot deadline to seven days after the election, which aligns with the current deadline for military and overseas ballots.
“By aligning the deadline for all voters with the existing standard for military and overseas ballots, we create a simple, uniform window that guarantees every timely cast vote is actually counted,” Pielli said.
“Every voter who submits a ballot on time deserves to have it counted,” Davis said. “This legislation provides a clear, fair solution: counties would have seven additional days to accept mail-in and absentee ballots, aligning with the standard already in place for military and overseas voters. It ensures that every timely cast vote is counted and protects the integrity of our elections.”
A pending case before the United State Supreme Court (SCOTUS), Watson v. Republican National Committee could make the proposed legislation moot. The issue at hand, is whether the federal election-day statutes, 2 U.S.C. § 7, 2 U.S.C. § 1, and 3 U.S.C. § 1, preempt a state law that allows ballots that are cast by federal election day to be received by election officials after that day.
The bill is currently awaiting assignment of a number and committee referral.
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