On October 22, the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee amended SB 421 and passed it. The bill repeals the straight-ticket device; eases the deadline for voters to register to vote from 30 days to 15 days before an election; eases the deadline for absentee ballots to be received; lets anyone cast an absentee ballot; legalizes using rubber stamps to cast write-in votes; and repeals the requirement that petition circulators live in the jurisdiction for which the petition applies. It also appropriates money for new vote-counting machines that have an audit trail.
The residency requirement for circulators had already been declared unconstitutional, so that part of the bill merely brings the code up-to-date on actual policy. Thanks to David Sturrock for this news.
WHERE IS THAT ***MODEL ELECTION LAW*** [WITH THE VARIOUS OPTIONS] ???
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PR AND APPV AND TOTSOP
Rep. Russ Diamond is trying to add an amendment to the bill that would strip it of language regarding access to campaign expense records. He was critical of the media for reporting this story: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/10/how-an-investigation-uncovered-nearly-35m-in-dark-spending-by-pa-lawmakers.html?utm_campaign=pennlive_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR26P4An0kA6re7lTA7tnyXgNdgtzfio8GyYgaUfU4NF2vMBHRW-Y_Xj71g
Russ Diamond got elected as a Republican, but he’s a former member of and candidate for the Libertarian Party.
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An open all write-in ballot without candidate or party names printed on the ballot makes a straight ticket device impossible. The voter can accomplish the effect however by writing-in only the names of one party’s candidates.