Shari Brewer, elections bureau director, works at the office in the county government center in 2016. Brewer said recently she would welcome earlier presidential primary elections in Pennsylvania, as long as it's done with other processes in mind.

Butler County's Bureau of Elections would welcome future presidential primary elections being switched to March as long as it's done with other processes in mind, the bureau's director said.

“Everything would have to be moved up to accommodate that,” said Shari Brewer, director of the bureau.

The state Senate passed Senate Bill 779 on Wednesday by a 48-0 vote. The bill would amend the Pennsylvania Election Code to move Pennsylvania's presidential primary election to the third Tuesday of March.

All three of the county's senators — Joe Pittman, R-41st, Elder Vogel, R-47th, and Scott Hutchinson, R-21st — voted in favor of the bill. It will now move to the state House for consideration.

Since 1937, the primary has been the fourth Tuesday in April.

This year, the primary falls on April 28, and even if the bill passes into law, the 2020 primary will not be changed.

If passed, the law would first affect the presidential primary in 2024, and would align Pennsylvania's primary with a handful of other state, such as Arizona, Florida and Illinois.

The bill was sponsored by state Sen. John Gordner, R-27th, who wrote a memorandum for the bill in May.

“This will allow our voters to have a significant say in the outcome of these essential elections, while not running afoul of any rules set forth by the Democratic National Committee or the Republican National Committee,” he said.

Brewer said she can see how the change could have that effect.

“It may have more of an impact on the entire nation,” she said.

But Brewer said there are parts of the election process that will need to be tailored to the new date, including the petition and the appeals processes.

“They need to change some other things before they do something like that,” she said.

Brewer said she doesn't believe changing the date would confuse voters, and it might encourage people by making the Keystone State's primary more impactful. She said it gives people the sense they are making a difference.

Brewer said she expects Act 77 to have a larger effect on voter turnout.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 77 into law in October. It amended the state election code to allow for mail-in ballots, expanded registration periods for voters, and provided $90 million in funding for new voting systems.

Voters can submit mail-in ballots for the 2020 election. Brewer believes the 2024 election could see even more of an impact than this year's election.

“People like the convenience,” she said. “In four years, that could really have caught on, so that people will be voting by mail anyway.”