Op-Ed: Still searching for leadership on election integrity

Audio By Carbonatix

Here we are again: Pennsylvania, the swingiest of swing states, has no less than four congressional races essentially tied, with control of the U.S. Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly up for grabs. 

These razor-thin margins heighten anxiety over election integrity. Look no further than Philadelphia’s county commissioners, who Wednesday voted to deny federal election monitors the authority to enter restricted areas in polling places. Ironically, the monitors never sought entry to those areas.

Federal agents observing polling places is nothing new. These monitors will be stationed in the commonwealth’s most populous counties, including Allegheny, Lehigh, Luzerne, and Philadelphia.

Scoring political points comes at the cost of stirring further concern that today’s elections are less fair and more prone to tampering.

Often taken for granted, election integrity remains an unsolved question for many Pennsylvanians. Let’s not forget voters’ painful experience with the launch of mail-in balloting during the tumultuous 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Unclear rules triggered a flurry of litigation that continues today. It took five years for the courts to clarify notice-and-cure policies for counties that segregate mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day. For those that do not, questions remain. That’s just one example of how unclear the rules are. 

The complexity leads to more opportunities for mistakes, and those mistakes are quickly painted as intentional conspiracies to undermine our elections, concocted by corrupt political opponents. 

Consider Luzerne County’s duplicate mail-in ballots this spring, Chester County’s failure to include independent and third-party voters in poll books last year, or Cambria County’s voting-machine failures in 2024. 

Mistakes in election administration are deeply troubling, but they are different from outright voter fraud.

Voter fraud exists, but it’s rare. Just last week, the Justice Department announced another round of charges against nine noncitizens voting in elections. This brings the total to 20 since September. 

While the cases are limited and ongoing, one fraudulent vote is one too many. We can improve election administration and stamp out fraud with simple, consistent rules.

The easiest policy tool is simple: Require identification to vote. Pennsylvania remains one of the 14 states that have not adopted voter ID.

But 75 percent of Pennsylvanians agree: It’s time to get it done. Whoever becomes governor on Nov. 3 needs to lead on this and send an unambiguous message to Pennsylvanians that we take voter fraud seriously. For years, voter ID has received consistent, strong support – no matter the region, party or demographic.

But we need to go further than that. Our counties need clear rules to manage today’s mail-in balloting world. The low-hanging fruit includes reasonable deadlines to register and apply for a mail-in ballot, giving voters enough time to cast and return their ballots. Move the mail-in ballot application deadline from seven days to at least 15 days before an election to guarantee every vote counts.

Finally, requiring pre-canvassing will prevent delays in vote counting. Pre-canvassing allows election officials to start processing ballots and other administrative tasks before Election Day. Speeding up this process keeps elections from dragging on unnecessarily. 

When results remain elusive for days, integrity concerns are supercharged. The longer it takes to count votes, the more people feel suspicious about the protracted results.

Such reforms can go a long way to strengthening our election processes and assuring all voters that elections are conducted fairly. Plus, it’s a friendly reminder that we should take every precaution to make voting easy and cheating hard.

When the stakes are so high to determine control of power, it’s even more critical that we go above and beyond to create clear, simple rules for voting in person or by mail. That’s how we restore voter faith and ensure that Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard.