The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania backed the bill, saying that having more time to process mail-in ballots before polls close — called “precanvassing” — will help them manage the workload and ensure quicker results.

“This simple change would significantly improve election administration without compromising ballot security,” Lisa Schaefer, the association’s executive director, said in a statement.

Schaefer asked the Senate to quickly advance the bill to Shapiro so that it can be implemented for November’s general election.

But Senate GOP Majority Leader Joe Pittman insisted Wednesday that Pennsylvania must toughen voter identification requirements as a companion to any legislation on election administration — a demand Republicans have made since 2021.

Democrats have opposed such a change, saying there is scant record of in-person voting fraud and that it will only prevent some registered voters from voting.

A surge in mail-in ballots in 2020’s presidential election shined a spotlight on Pennsylvania’s requirement after it took four days of counting for news agencies to project Biden as the winner of Pennsylvania, giving him the electoral votes necessary to win the White House.

However, Trump and his allies tried to exploit the days it took after polls closed to tabulate the millions of mail-in ballots to spread baseless conspiracy theories and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election.

Republicans revived those claims during Wednesday’s nearly hourlong floor debate.

“Under this legislation, they’ll take votes from anyone, anytime, anywhere, legal or not,” Rep. Martina White, a Republican from Philadelphia, said during floor debate.

One Republican lawmaker referred back to baseless claims that partisans in Philadelphia, a Democratic bastion, shut down vote-counting to falsify enough mail-in ballots for Biden after polls closed to overcome Trump’s advantage among those voting in-person at polling places.

“This vote will take us back in the days where cities close with one leader for president and opened again with another,” said Rep. Eric Nelson, a Republican from Westmoreland.

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, a Democrat from Montgomery, said it is shameless to suggest that the legislation is partisan and that lawmakers should pass it to help guarantee a timely and accurate election result while avoiding a repeat of 2020.

“This is simply about giving people a timely result in an election so we don’t have what we had in 2020,” Bradford said during floor debate. “The mindless conspiracies. The election denialism. I’ve heard so much over the last 20 minutes of debate that remind me so much of the horrible months that followed the November 2020 election.”

3-minute read

Recently, I attended my grade school reunion in South Philly — St. Monica, Class of …

A classmate, greeting me after decades of not seeing each other, said: “Hey Guy, do me a favor, please. Can you tell the Republicans to focus on winning?” (Nice to see you, too, Sal!)

If Donald Trump wins Pennsylvania, Joe Biden cannot be reelected. If Dave McCormick goes to the Senate, it’s no more Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. If Republicans can pick up just one more statehouse seat, they will recapture the majority in that body.

The threat of tripling taxes on small businesses will go away. Pennsylvania’s energy reserves will be put to the use of lowering prices, creating jobs, and reducing our dependence on foreign adversaries. More parents will get choices about where they can send their children to school.

So, yes, let’s focus on winning. The good news for the GOP is that most voters agree with us on most issues. The bad news: Democrats know how to change the subject, and they know how to play the election game. They’re better at getting their voters out to vote, especially by mail.

Because you asked, Sal, and because this is such a crucial election, here’s a roadmap to winning.

Unity. We must have unity — unity of purpose. We must agree that regardless who your most favorite or least favorite Republican is, and no matter what your number one issue is, Republicans need to focus on unity and growth. Now is not the time to focus on who doesn’t belong or who should be kicked out, taken out or ridiculed.

We must commit to stopping the harm that Democrats have caused, undoing the damage, and putting policies in place to bring down inflation and allow our children to get back to learning, in schools chosen by their parents. All are welcome, and we should reach out to everyone, especially minorities who have been ignored or taken for granted.

Mail-In Voting. Finally, GOP leaders across Pennsylvania — with support from those who helped Gov. Glen Youngkin in Virginia and donors across the nation — are committing to mail-in voting. The mailers are arriving. The ads are starting. Now it’s up to us.

Request your mail-in ballot. Vote by mail. Convince your friends to do the same. Unless we change our habits, we will probably lose. To say it again, if we carry Pennsylvania, the Biden damage to America and our communities ends, and good things can start happening again.

Republicans tried ignoring mail-in voting and complaining about it. The result: lots of L’s.

We should be guided by three principles: easy to vote; hard to cheat; and results we can trust. But we can’t make the necessary changes until we win.

Results We Can Trust. Yes, Republicans in each county should make sure that every county that has “drop boxes” has clear, publicized hours of operation, cameras and watchers on sight, and a written chain of custody for the collection, storage, and counting of ballots. Similarly, as Philadelphia and perhaps other counties open “satellite election offices,” citizens should demand that these de facto polling places have watchers present. And GOP “minority” commissioners must fulfill their duty as not only public servants, but also as watchdogs.

Learn from the Pros. Democrats in Philadelphia and across the state are using all the tools at their disposal — and inventing new ones — to increase turnout. More and more drop boxes. Satellite election offices. Voter registration drives run by the government in targeted communities or with targeted voters. Driving to voters’ homes to help them fix mail-in ballots that need signatures or dating to be lawfully counted.

Republicans have majority control in 54 out the state’s 67 counties. It’s time to learn the voting “game” from the Democrats while following the law. Adapt to the changing tactics. And win.

Drop Boxes. Yes, drop boxes. Many counties in Pennsylvania are large, with limited population spread out across their region. County commissioners ought to consider putting drop boxes in Amish communities, community colleges, the local Grange, farming supply centers, outside of popular churches — and yes, at gun ranges.

Satellite offices. We should have at least one satellite office in any region of a county that is not near the county courthouse.

Voter Registration Drives. Philadelphia plans to use taxpayer money to register voters in an effort to drive up votes for the Democrats. Well, two can play that game. Aside from having forms at the courthouse and library, how about the commissioners hosting a drive at an Amish Farm, at a gun range, outside an ROTC center, or at a local volunteer fire hall?

“Curing” Ballots. If Montgomery County Democratic commissioners follow through on their stated plans and let courthouse staff drive “flawed” mail-in ballots to voters’ homes so that they can fix them, then the 54 GOP-run counties should do the same.

Yes, elections are about winning the hearts and minds of voters. But they’re also about ballots.

Biden and his allies in D.C. and Harrisburg have brought us inflation, expensive gasoline, rising utility bills, increased violent crime in our cities reaching into the suburbs, an open and unsecured border, growing dependency on enemies for energy and weakness, death, and destruction around the world.

Republicans are winning the battle for hearts and minds. Now, let’s win the battle at the ballot box. Let’s unify — and use every legal tool at our disposal so that no GOP voter fails to vote.

Do it for Sal — and for all those who still believe the American Dream is worth fighting for.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a writer for RealClearPennsylvania and Broad+Liberty. He is also a senior fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation. The views expressed may not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.