Keystone Today

Senate President Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) has announced that he will soon be introducing sweeping election reform legislation in light of last week’s Commonwealth Court decision striking down Act 77 of 2019, which allowed no-excuse mail ballots.

“Today’s ruling should serve as a call to action to open up a serious conversation about the reforms necessary to make voting both accessible and secure for all Pennsylvanians,” Corman, a candidate for governor, told Pennsylvania Senate Republicans. “Gov. (Tom) Wolf (D) has ignored this debate for over a year, but hopefully this ruling will help bring him to the table so we can address concerns about our election system once and for all.”

The proposed legislation, which Corman spokesman Jason Thompson said would be circulated among Senate Republican colleagues in the near future, will contain provisions requiring voter ID, a ban on drop boxes and a ban on outside private money underwriting the cost of election administration. It will also call for third-party audits of election results. The proposal is similar to legislation, HB 1300, approved by the General Assembly last June but vetoed by Wolf.

Gov. Tom Wolf | Governor.PA.gov

Another sweeping election reform bill, HB 1800, introduced this year in the Pennsylvania House, passed the State Government Committee in December and now awaits action by the full House. Corman will work with House members and “all major stakeholders to get an election reform bill approved by the General Assembly,” Jason Thompson told Keystone Today.

Act 77 was a compromise bill approved  by a Republican General Assembly and signed by Wolf, but Corman said that changes to election procedures initiated by Wolf’s Department of State leading up to the 2020 elections, including one involving secrecy envelopes, left him with “no confidence” in the no-excuse mail ballot provision in the law.

The Commonwealth Court ruling could dramatically alter state election procedures in a year when Pennsylvania voters will be electing a new U.S. senator and governor. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R) is retiring, and Wolf's second four-year term comes to an end next January; the state constitution limits governors to two successive terms.

The Wolf administration immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court to place a hold on the Commonwealth Court ruling.