With the debacle of the delayed voting results from the Iowa caucuses still fresh in people’s minds, Pennsylvania officials are worried about similar delays arising from the primary election on April 28.

There’s good reason to be worried. The change in state law to allow mail-in voting could mean the final results won’t be known for several days after the election.

State lawmakers need to be ready to make some revisions to the voting law to avoid such potential delays in counting votes for the November presidential election.

Changes in state election law allow voters to vote early using a mail-in ballot. Local election officials agree that’s a positive change that could increase voter participation. The problem is the law stipulates that mail-in ballots cannot be opened and counted until after the polls close at 8 p.m. on election night.

That has election officials statewide concerned that tabulating the mail-in votes could take much more time than anyone considered when the law was changed, particularly with the anticipated increase in mail-in ballots. Previously, anyone wishing to vote by mail had to request an absentee ballot and meet certain qualifications. Now they are available to any registered voter.

The primary election will be a test case for county election officials who are tasked with implementing the new system, and who will likely face criticism if delays in counting the mail-in ballots affect race results.

And it seems all but certain that there will be delays.

Election officials in Allegheny County said the process is going to take longer, but they plan to stay on election night until all the votes are counted. In Butler County, officials hope to have them counted by the end of the night but acknowledge that might not happen. In Beaver County, the elections director said the mail-in votes won’t be counted until Wednesday because the bureau doesn’t have the resources to have them counted on election night.

Since this is the first election that anyone can request a mail-in ballot, election officials aren’t sure how many they will have, but they’re certain it will be more.

Of bigger concern is the November presidential election, which nearly always brings huge spikes in voter turnout. In Butler and Beaver counties, elections officials said previous presidential elections brought in around 5,000 absentee ballots to be counted. With the change to mail-in voting, they expect that number could rise to 15,000 or more. And they are equally sure it will take them a couple of days to get them counted if they are forced to wait until the polls close.

Election officials across the state are echoing the same concerns. The primary election will be a challenge, they say, but the presidential election in November could be an Iowa caucus reboot with vote counting taking days and the race results in doubt.

The Legislature created this potential problem when it passed Act 77 and included the ban on counting mail-in votes until after the polls are closed. Some 30 other states have mail-in ballots and many have allowances and procedures for counting the ballots on Election Day, or even days prior, rather than waiting until the polls close.

The idea of having to wait days for voting results in Pennsylvania is unacceptable to voters and candidates alike. Lawmakers should begin considering revisions that will allow election officials to count mail-in votes on an earlier schedule.

First Published: March 4, 2020, 11:00 a.m.