Pa. lawmakers send Wolf election bill he plans to veto
HARRISBURG — A bill to require voter ID and make a host of other changes to Pennsylvania election law passed the state Senate on Friday on party lines and is on its way to the Democratic governor, who plans to veto it.
Senators voted on party lines, 29-21, for the Republican-crafted measure, which would also alter registration and ballot counting deadlines and create several new methods to check election results.
The bill makes changes county elections officials have sought to begin processing ballots earlier and to set an earlier deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot.
Wolf press secretary Lyndsay Kensinger said Friday that Gov. Tom Wolf plans to veto the bill.
The registration deadline would change from 15 days to 30 days prior to an election, and mail-in ballots would have to be requested 15 days before the vote. Drop boxes for mail-in ballots would be limited to seven days before an election and monitored by designees of the major political parties.
Counties would get five days before election day to begin canvassing absentee and mail-in ballots.
The bill would make new rules for fixing problems on mail-in ballots envelopes, such as lack of signatures or dates.
There would be new county-issued voter registration cards, and signature matching procedures to verify voter eligibility.
