Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, shed light on the issue surrounding the processing of received mail-in ballots before Election Day. In Pennsylvania, state law prohibits county election officials from commencing the processing of these ballots until 7 a.m. on election morning. This stands in contrast to many other states, both Republican and Democratic, that allow for the pre-processing of mail-in ballots days or even weeks in advance, resulting in earlier result announcements.
Secretary Schmidt highlighted that the delay in pre-processing mail-in ballots is a technical problem with a straightforward technical solution that has yet to be addressed since the 2020 election. Despite the apparent simplicity of the issue, the Pennsylvania legislature has not taken steps to rectify the situation, raising questions about the deliberate nature of the inaction.
