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"We're going to be in a bind": York Co. leaders call on state to take action before election to help counties

York County is expecting a large turnout for the election with 'thousands' of registration & mail-in ballot requests already being received

York County is preparing for thousands of voters to cast ballots this Presidential election.

Problem is, counties don't know what set of rules they'll have to play by in November to get those ballots prepared and counted, says President Commissioner Julie Wheeler. 

"The execution part of this falls on the county. So the sooner that we can get these decisions made, the better we will be able to handle the needs of our community out there," said Wheeler who added,"we would like to see decisions made sooner rather than later so we know what the rules are."

State lawmakers are currently debating a number of bills to reform the election code to aid counties during the general election. Meantime, York County is expecting more than 100,000 mail-in ballots in November. So far, the county has received well over 65,000.

County Commissioners stated Wednesday more than 36,000 voters have already chosen to request a permanent mail-in ballot. Additionally, online requests for mail-in or absentee ballots have reached close to 20,000. The county has also received nearly 12,000 requests by mail for mail-in ballots. 

"Our priority really is to get the mail-in ballots processed," said Wheeler, who said if current rules do not change "we're going to be in a bind."

Under current rules, voters can apply for a mail-in ballot up to one week before the election. Counties cannot start opening the ballots until election day. 

"Number one, we would like to see the deadline for mail-in ballot requests to be 3 weeks prior to election day," asid Wheeler, who is a Republican. She added, "we would suggest that pre-canvassing begin the Saturday before the General Election."

Senate Republicans have been pushing for pre-canvassing to begin the Saturday before the election in Senate Bill 10, which would also move the application deadline to request a mail-in ballot to 15 days prior to an election. 

Senate Democrats are pushing for pre-canvassing to begin 21 days before the election, with Sen. Jay Costa indicating they may be open to a negotiation of 7-10 days before the election. Democrats also take issue with shortening the application deadline.

"What's happening now is that you are cutting of a persons ability to ask for a ballot to two weeks," Sen. Costa of Allegheny County told FOX43 last week about the 15 day prior to election day proposal for mail-in applications. He added that the proposal is problematic as well because a person who has every intention of going to a polling location may not be able to make it for multiple reasons, especially now in the time of COVID-19.  

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman told FOX43 that the suggestion to limit the application deadline to 15 days before the election came as a response to concerns from the US mail and counties. 

"This is a reaction t the post offices' concerns of the amount of mail they would be getting," said Sen. Corman, who later added "if you're allowed to wait until the last second to get a ballot than this adds to the problem of too much mail coming in at any one point and time."

Read Senate Bill 10

Read House Bill 2626, another proposal to change the election code.

Watch more on lawmakers reactions to both proposals here:

RELATED: State representatives begin fall session discussing amending Pennsylvania's Election Code

RELATED: GOP proposal calls for earlier cut-off date to request mail-in ballot, but promises more drop-off locations & help for counties

Wheeler, meantime, also noted a need for lawmakers to allow polling places to consolidate.

"We already have 10 polls that have come forward and said they do not want to be open for the general election," she said.

As for getting election results on election night, Wheeler said she is hopeful that the county can turn around timely results if predictions stay steady at 100,000 mail-in ballots. However, she noted that if that number doubles the county may not be able to accomplish getting all the ballots counted the same day as the election if current rules stand. 

"We want to provide results on election day. Our hands are really going to be encumbered if we don't have some latitude," Wheeler said.

The county is not able to send any mail-in ballots to voters until the ballots are certified by the state which happens 50 days prior to the election. Voters can expect their ballots to begin arriving around September 11-14th.

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