Bemoaning a 25 percent turnout in this fall’s general election, a nonpartisan coalition wants to make it easier for Pennsylvanians to vote. But advocates acknowledge the fight won’t be easy.

Many voters “struggle to make it to the polls on Election Day,” said Karen Buck, executive director of Philadelphia-based SeniorLAW Center, one of 30 groups taking part in the Keystone Votes initiative launched Tuesday. Even regular voters, she said, “would welcome more flexibility and choice in deciding when and how to cast a vote.”

The campaign backs changes that include allowing anyone to vote by mail, rather than reserving absentee ballots to those who are traveling on Election Day, or who have physical conditions that make it difficult to reach the polls. Other initiatives include allowing pre-Election Day voting and “same-day registration,” in which voters can register on Election Day itself.

Supporters say such rules are already in place in as many as 31 states. The rules “work, they are not costly, and they will preserve the integrity of our elections,” said Susan Carty, board president of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, in a conference call.

Such changes would require new legislation, and some “are going to be efforts for the long haul,” said Barry Kauffman, who heads Common Cause Pennsylvania. Supporters plan to make their case at www.keystonevotes.com, and in conversations with elected officials and other stakeholders in the months ahead.

Pennsylvania Voice executive director Erin Casey said it was difficult to determine how quickly any changes might come. “It’s hard to predict if we can see these policies in place by the 2016 elections.”

Voter access has been hotly contested in the past: In 2014, a state “voter ID” bill sharply divided Democrats and Republicans until state courts rejected it.

The new proposals can expect opposition, starting with the chairman of the state House committee that would likely consider such legislation: Cranberry Republican Daryl Metcalfe.

Mr. Metcalfe said members of his committee would likely worry that proposals such as same-day registration could spawn “fraud and chaos.”

In fact, Mr. Metcalfe said he was planning to propose election changes of his own. Among them: a renewed voter ID measure that would comply with previous court rulings.

Chris Potter: cpotter@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2533.

First Published: November 18, 2015, 5:00 a.m.