Legislation that could lead to faster election results advances

Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pa. House State Government Committee has advanced House Bill 37, introduced by Rep. Scott Conklin and created to give election workers more time to process mail-in ballots, which could lead to faster election result reporting.

Under current Pa. law, pre-canvassing of absentee and mail-in ballots can’t begin until 7 a.m. on Election Day. Pre-canvassing is defined as inspecting and opening the envelopes that contain the ballots, removing them from the envelopes, and counting, computing, and tallying the votes.

Pre-canvassing does not include recording or publishing votes.

“The time allotted for pre-canvassing might have been feasible at one time, before the state adopted no-excuse mail-in voting, but with the more recent surge of voters choosing that option, the timeframe is no longer realistic,” Conklin said. “We’re hearing that repeatedly from county election officials and workers on both sides of the political aisle, who have asked us to change the law to give them more time to process these ballots.

“We need to answer that call. Delays in processing ballots don’t just create frustration – they can generate mistrust of the system. Giving counties the time they need to pre-canvass ballots would provide quicker election results and, in the process, help maintain trust in the system.”

Now that the bill has received committee approval, it will move on to the full House of Representatives for further consideration.

Rep. Conklin introduced a version of the same bill in 2023, which was passed by the House but never came to a vote in the Senate.