We are wondering if the mail-in ballot issue will be decided before we vote on a president.

With less than two months until Election Day, the state House has advanced to the Senate a voting reform bill that would give counties more time to process mail-in ballots before polls open.

Pennsylvania is one of seven states that don’t allow mail-in ballots to be processed and counted until Election Day, meaning that counties deluged with mailed ballots will be pressed to complete the counting process in a timely manner.

That could be disastrous in a year when millions of people across the state are expected to vote by mail.

Last week, former Gov. Tom Ridge said he hopes state lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf can reach an agreement on the reform.

“We must take all steps possible to ensure that officials can still run secure and efficient elections,” Ridge said.

Election officials say such a change is necessary to account for an anticipated surge in mail voting caused in part by the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a Department of State report that reviewed the June primary, about half of Pennsylvania’s counties still were counting ballots one week after polling places closed.

“We know we’re unlikely to have results on Election Day, and that is OK,” Ridge said. “The correct result is worth waiting for.”

We believe Republicans and Democrats should agree on recommendations by the Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan good governance advocacy organization. It recommends allowing local offices to precanvas mailed ballots — scanning bar codes and opening external and security envelopes — up to three weeks before actually counting the ballots on Election Day.

And it calls for allowing voters to personally drop off their ballots on Election Day and requiring ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted up to seven days after the election.

The bill as sent to the Senate also would provide greater flexibility in appointing poll workers, and require counties to begin sending ballots to voters earlier than currently mandated.

A spokesperson for Wolf said the governor will veto the bill because he “strongly opposes (it) as amended for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that the bill makes it harder, not easier, for citizens to vote.”

COVID-19 has made 2020 a chaotic and unsettling year. Let’s hope the Legislature and Wolf work together to avoid additional chaos come Election Day.

— JGG