Pennsylvania

Partisan gridlock prevents fixes to Pennsylvania’s voting laws as presidential election looms

Published

5 days ago

June 15, 2024

Partisan gridlock prevents fixes to Pennsylvania’s voting laws as presidential election looms

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania is seeing lots of action targeting gaps in its vote-by-mail laws. The problem is that it’s in the courtroom and not the legislature.

That could make the most populous presidential swing state a hotbed of challenges and conspiracy theories if the November election is close, as expected.

The state also has a U.S. Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick that will help determine control of the chamber, increasing scrutiny on election offices if lawmakers can’t break a partisan stalemate and vote-counting is slowed by mailed ballots.

“Everyone just really feels how high the stakes are in Pennsylvania, being the largest swing state in the country,” said Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia-based good-government group.

Political gridlock in Pennsylvania over election laws dates to 2019, when a Republican-controlled legislature greatly expanded voting by mail in a compromise with then-Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Within months, then-President Donald Trump began, without evidence, demonizing voting by mail as rife with fraud, turning Republican voters against it and leading Republican lawmakers to backtrack on their support. He has taken contradictory stances this year — promoting mail voting while also supporting lawsuits against it.

The attacks on mail voting have created partisan battle lines around attempts to fix it in Pennsylvania.

Democrats also want to add early in-person voting, a convenience already adopted by most states, but it’s been a nonstarter for Republicans. Unlike some other states, Pennsylvanian voters can’t change their election laws because the state constitution doesn’t allow citizens to write their own ballot initiatives.

As a result, election-related lawsuits are sprouting in state, federal and county courts, nearly all targeting mail-in voting.

Across the country, Republicans are trying more than ever now to get their voters to vote by mail, a striking change for a party that amplified conspiracy theories about mail ballots in an attempt to explain away Trump’s 2020 loss.

Still, voting by mail remains largely the province of Democrats. In Pennsylvania, roughly three-fourths of mail-in ballots tend to be cast by Democrats.

Among the most important fixes to the state’s mail balloting law is one sought by counties. It would allow local election offices to begin processing mail-in ballots before Election Day, something nearly every other state with mail voting allows. That would help them produce results more quickly on election night.

Democrats also have sought to resolve a storm of litigation by clarifying the law so that mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date on the outer envelope, a signature or an inner secrecy envelope can still be counted. Thousands of those ballots get thrown out, although Democratic-leaning counties typically try to help voters fix those errors, so their ballots will count.

Without any fixes in state law, Democrats expect a repeat in November of the chaos around the 2020 election.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party chair, Sharif Street, said the state is capable of having a fair and well-run election under its existing laws. But, he said, Trump and his allies aren’t interested in that.

“He doesn’t want a smooth process in Pennsylvania or anywhere, because he believes that the chaos benefits him both in the run-up to the election, because he can rally people around saying that ‘There is going to be a steal,’ and then post-election … (he can) point to irregularities to say that he is the rightful winner, when in fact he’s lost,” Street said.

Trump has been sowing doubts about this year’s election for months. At a rally last weekend, he said only widespread fraud could prevent him from getting reelected. “The only way they can beat us is to cheat,” he told supporters in Las Vegas.

Baseless allegations about fraud filled the vacuum during Pennsylvania’s protracted post-election vote count in 2020.

Charlie Gerow, a longtime Republican activist and strategist in Pennsylvania, said the GOP will be prepared to report and document fraud in ways it wasn’t prepared for in that year’s election. To be clear, voter fraud is extremely rare, typically involves just a few ballots and even involves Republican voters — some of whom have cast extra ballots for Trump.

An Associated Press investigation in 2021 found fewer than 475 cases of potential voter fraud across the six states where Trump disputed his loss, not nearly enough to tip the election. In Pennsylvania alone, Biden beat Trump by more than 80,000 votes.

When Democrats brought legislation to a House vote seeking to let counties process mailed ballots before Election Day — called pre-canvassing — a Republican lawmaker warned it “could lead to various forms of abuse and fraud.”

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, said he hasn’t heard of a single state where that sort of fraud has occurred.

The legislation passed the Pennsylvania House, which is narrowly controlled by Democrats, but is stalled in the Senate, where majority Republicans are demanding that the House first pass a constitutional amendment to expand voter identification requirements.

“I am very worried about public perception and public concern that our process is not secure, and we need to figure out opportunities to make that process more secure,” said Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, a Republican.

Democratic House Majority Leader Matt Bradford said he also is worried by the legislative stalemate and its potential impact in November.

“We passed pre-canvassing to try to bring some semblance of certainty quickly, to give people a winner as quickly and accurately as possible,” Bradford said. “That has continued to languish.”

Meanwhile, fights over mail voting in the state are piling up in the courts.

One lawsuit by Republican lawmakers would force mail-in ballots to be counted in polling places, rather than county election offices. That would add “immense complexity and burden to election administration,” county governments opposed to the lawsuit said in court documents.

Democrats and left-leaning groups are suing in state and federal courts over the practice of throwing out mail-in ballots with a missing or incorrect handwritten date on the outer envelope.

And at least two Republican-controlled counties are being sued over their refusal to help voters fix technical errors with mail-in ballots — such as a missing date or inner secrecy envelope — to avoid the ballot getting tossed out.

A bright spot is that counties are getting better at counting mail-in ballots.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, 2.6 million voters — nearly 40% of the total in Pennsylvania — cast ballots by mail. That overwhelmed counties and required almost four days of post-election vote-counting before a presidential winner could be declared, deciding the contest.

Counties since then have bought more high-speed processing equipment and fine-tuned their Election Day routines to count more efficiently.

Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, expects to produce results on election night. In 2020, it needed most of the next day.

Philadelphia expects to wrap up most of its counting this fall within roughly 24 hours after polls close, a task that could be finished by election night if given the ability to process the ballots before Election Day.

“That is a very normal practice that happens all over the country,” said Seth Bluestein, a Republican election commissioner in Philadelphia. “The fact that we can’t do that in Pennsylvania is what will cause us to not count all the ballots on election night. It is the only cause, and the Legislature could have fixed it.”

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Follow Marc Levy: twitter.com/timelywriter

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

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Pennsylvania

California Blue takes men’s Greco-Roman title with last match heroics over Pennsylvania at AFSW Junior National Duals

Published

2 hours ago

June 20, 2024

Press Room

California Blue takes men’s Greco-Roman title with last match heroics over Pennsylvania at AFSW Junior National Duals

Air Force Special Warfare Junior National Duals | June 19-22, Tulsa, Okla.

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Men’s Greco-Roman Gold/Silver Results

1st Place – California Blue

2nd Place – Pennsylvania

3rd Place – Illinois

4th Place – Idaho

5th Place – Minnesota Blue

6th Place – Oklahoma Blue

7th Place – Iowa

8th Place – Colorado

1st Place Match – California Blue defeated Pennsylvania, 32-30

285 – Nicholas Sahakian (California Blue) tech. fall Mark Effendian (Pennsylvania), 9-0

100 – Niko Selianitis (California Blue) dec. Grady Moore (Pennsylvania), 13-8

106 – Kole Davidheiser (Pennsylvania) tech. fall Jayren Chan (California Blue), 8-0

113 – Gabriel Dela Rosa (California Blue) fall Max Tancini (Pennsylvania)

120 – Kavin Muyleart (Pennsylvania) dec. Elijah Almarinez (California Blue), 11-7

126 – Lincoln Sledzianowski (Pennsylvania) tech. fall Edwin Sierra (California Blue), 9-0

132 – Isaiah Cortez (California Blue) dec. Aaron Seidel (Pennsylvania), 4-0

138 – Elijah Cortez (California Blue) dec. Sam Herring (Pennsylvania), 8-6

144 – Pierson Manville (Pennsylvania) tech. fall Daniel Zepeda (California Blue), 9-0

150 – Luis Alberto-Desilva (Pennsylvania) tech. fall Jagger French (California Blue), 8-0

157 – Vince Bouzakis (Pennsylvania) tech. fall Tigran Greyan (California Blue), 10-0

165 – Noah Daniels (California Blue) fall Greyson Catlow-Sidler (Pennsylvania), 1:37

175 – Adam Waters (Pennsylvania) fall Dylan Pile (California Blue), 1:16

190 – Thomas Sandoval (California Blue) tech. fall Mason Hartung (Pennsylvania), 9-0

215 – Angelo Posada (California Blue) tech. fall Jason Singer (Pennsylvania), 8-0

3rd Place Match – Illinois defeated Idaho, 40-27

285 – Shilo Jones (Idaho) tech. fall Wyatt Schmitt (Illinois), 8-0

100 – Michael Rundell (Illinois) tech. fall Brand`n Edstrom (Idaho), 15-6

106 – Caden Correll (Illinois) tech. fall Ryan Hirchert (Idaho), 8-0

113 – Caleb Noble (Illinois) fall Hunter Anderson (Idaho)

120 – Inocencio Garcia (Illinois) tech. fall Dylan Frothinger (Idaho), 12-4

126 – Boden Banta (Idaho) dec. Noah Woods (Illinois), 5-5

132 – Hoyt Hvass (Idaho) dec. Gauge Shipp (Illinois), 8-5

138 – Joseph Knackstedt (Illinois) tech. fall Nathan Gugelman II (Idaho), 8-0

144 – Andres Santiago Chaparro Urrego (Illinois) dec. DJ Neider (Idaho), 7-2

150 – Matthew Martino (Idaho) tech. fall Evan Gosz (Illinois), 9-0

157 – Carlos Valdez (Idaho) tech. fall Julian Slaastad (Illinois), 16-6

165 – Cael Miller (Illinois) tech. fall Xander Zollinger (Idaho), 11-0

175 – Jimmy Mastny (Illinois) forfeit

190 – Hudson Rogers (Idaho) dq. Alihan Bereket (Illinois)

215 – Kaiden Morris (Illinois) tech. fall Carson Gooley (Idaho), 13-3

5th Place Match – Minnesota Blue defeated Oklahoma Blue, 34-32

285 – Mason Harris (Oklahoma Blue) fall Logan Bender (Minnesota Blue), 1:25

100 – Landon Thoennes (Minnesota Blue) tech. fall Bobby Lima (Oklahoma Blue), 12-1

106 – Zebediah Tibbles (Oklahoma Blue) tech. fall Jacob Kranz (Minnesota Blue), 8-0

113 – Eric Casula (Oklahoma Blue) dec. Eli Schultz (Minnesota Blue), 3-1

120 – Titan Friederichs (Minnesota Blue) tech. fall Colt Collett (Oklahoma Blue), 10-0

126 – Isaiah Jones (Oklahoma Blue) fall Lawson Eller (Minnesota Blue), 0:30

132 – Hudson Hackbarth (Oklahoma Blue) tech. fall Aiden Graner (Minnesota Blue), 8-0

138 – Garrett Salt (Oklahoma Blue) tech. fall Trey Gunderson (Minnesota Blue), 8-0

144 – Alex Braun (Minnesota Blue) forfeit

150 – Nolan Ambrose (Minnesota Blue) tech. fall Preston Reyna (Oklahoma Blue), 14-6

157 – Conlan Carlson (Minnesota Blue) tech. fall Tharyn Hausler (Oklahoma Blue), 9-0

165 – Griffin Lundeen (Minnesota Blue) tech. fall Daegan Reyes (Oklahoma Blue), 8-0

175 – Jed Wester (Minnesota Blue) tech. fall Deontre Buttram (Oklahoma Blue), 12-4

190 – Peyton Callis (Oklahoma Blue) tech. fall Shane Carlson (Minnesota Blue), 8-0

215 – Ben Schultz (Minnesota Blue) tech. fall Samuel Pritz (Oklahoma Blue), 8-0

7th Place Match – Iowa defeated Colorado, 34-33

285 – Trent Warner (Iowa) forfeit

100 – Coy Mehlert (Iowa) forfeit

106 – Urijah Courter (Iowa) dq. Daniel Jordan (Colorado)

113 – Everest Sutton (Colorado) tech. fall Cooper Hinz (Iowa), 8-0

120 – Dustin John Snider (Colorado) tech. fall Tyler Harper (Iowa), 9-0

126 – Jesse Lewis (Iowa) tech. fall Enrique Soto (Colorado), 11-0

132 – Timothy Koester (Iowa) tech. fall Nick Dardanes (Colorado), 12-1

138 – Chancellor Mathews (Colorado) tech. fall Jordan Schmidt (Iowa), 9-0

144 – Otto Black (Colorado) tech. fall Jabari Hinson (Iowa), 14-4

150 – Benjamin Hansen (Iowa) dec. DJ Wince (Colorado), 5-1

157 – Garrett Reece (Colorado) dec. Kyler Knaack (Iowa), 12-7

165 – Brandon Dean (Colorado) fall Lincoln Jipp (Iowa), 2:40

175 – Leister Bowling IV (Colorado) tech. fall Daniel Magayna (Iowa), 12-2

190 – Brody Sampson (Iowa) tech. fall Ira Sittner (Colorado), 10-0

215 – Quinn Funk (Colorado) dec. Henry Christensen (Iowa) Dec 6-3

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Pennsylvania

Legal cannabis likely won’t be in this year’s budget, but supporters say there’s a silver lining

Published

9 hours ago

June 20, 2024

Press Room

Legal cannabis likely won’t be in this year’s budget, but supporters say there’s a silver lining

This story originally appeared on Spotlight PA.

Gov. Josh Shapiro made legalizing recreational marijuana a centerpiece of his budget pitch this year, but cannabis advocates and Pennsylvania lawmakers say such a proposal is unlikely to be part of a final deal.

Democrats who control the state House have yet to find consensus on how to regulate a multibillion-dollar industry and include the people most harmed by drug criminalization in the new market. Meanwhile, the lawmaker who controls what legislation the GOP-majority state Senate considers still opposes legalization.

Passing a legalization bill with the budget due June 30 is “probably not a realistic timeframe,” said state Rep. Dan Frankel (D., Allegheny), chair of the House Health Committee.

Still, legalization advocates say they’re closer than ever to success, citing allies in both parties, legalization in all but one of the commonwealth’s neighbors, and a blueprint in the passage of medical marijuana.

“We’re on a path to get this done,” Frankel told Spotlight PA.

Polling shows the issue is popular with voters in the lead-up to a contentious election in November. Three proposals had been introduced in the legislature as of mid-June — two with bipartisan backing — and more are on the horizon.

The cannabis industry itself, which sees big profits in Pennsylvania, is pushing hard for legalization, employing dozens of lobbyists at at least nine different firms to make their case to legislators. They largely support a bill that would create a new regulatory board dedicated to marijuana and allow existing medical marijuana companies to transition into the recreational market.

Legislative Democrats who have spearheaded legalization talks this year want to allow the people most affected by marijuana criminalization to participate in the new industry and to ensure legalization doesn’t adversely affect public health.

Chief among the roadblocks is deciding how the new industry would be structured.

In his February budget pitch, Shapiro asked lawmakers to pass a 20% tax on recreational marijuana sales. He estimated that doing so would bring in more than $250 million in annual tax revenue once the industry is off the ground.

Shapiro also asked that a bill include expungement for people convicted of nonviolent possession of small amounts of marijuana, and echoed legislative calls for the industry to include previously criminalized groups. And he wants the state Department of Agriculture to regulate the industry.

He left the rest of the details up to the legislature.

Frankel’s committee has since held many hearings on the issue. He said he heard from a “parade of interests” that, while often well-meaning, “want to create a great business opportunity.”

That experience led him to support the sale of marijuana in state-owned stores, similar to existing ones that sell liquor and wine. Twenty-one other Democrats have signed on to a bill that would create such stores.

“It’s clear that if our main priority is protecting public health from unintended consequences of for-profit commercialization, then a state-owned system for adult-use cannabis may be a way to it,” Frankel said.

Frankel argued such a system would let the state take on the risk of managing the volatile new industry and protect Pennsylvania farmers.

“There is a lot to like about this mode, but there are certainly other ideas and approaches out there to be considered,” he added, saying that his own proposal will depend on what his colleagues back.

Frankel also expressed interest in adopting some measures from Canadian law. One would be to require edible flavors to be “unappealing to children” and come in varieties such as broccoli or beets instead of the candy-like options popular in states with adult-use cannabis.

Such ideas, particularly state sales of marijuana, are opposed by the industry and some advocates. But Frankel said he wouldn’t be fazed by their concerns.

“I would be somewhat skeptical of a bill that was universally and enthusiastically endorsed by the industry, and I think that [in] my experiences, sometimes the best policy doesn’t make every stakeholder happy,” he told Spotlight PA.

Reaching a consensus in the closely divided state House is only the first hurdle for legalization. The next — and much bigger one — would be winning over the Republican-controlled state Senate.

Legislative Republicans have long blocked action on cannabis by citing its federal status as a Schedule I drug, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

President Joe Biden’s administration this year began the process of reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. But state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) told Spotlight PA in a statement that he still has concerns.

“I continue to hear from drug and alcohol providers in my district that have reservations about the use of marijuana and its impacts on addiction,” Pittman said. “I have long believed this issue is something the federal government needs to figure out.”

Those concerns have been echoed by influential interest groups, such as the state’s manufacturers association, law enforcement organizations, and some children’s advocates.

But Meredith Buettner, executive director of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, a trade organization that represents medical marijuana permit holders, believes the right circumstances could force the legislature to act. The state is currently flush with surplus cash but faces long-term revenue issues it will one day be forced to reckon with.

“Stranger things have happened during the month of June in Harrisburg,” she told Spotlight PA.

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Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Excessive Heat Warning Extended; Air Quality Alert Issued

Published

16 hours ago

June 20, 2024

Press Room

Pittsburgh Excessive Heat Warning Extended; Air Quality Alert Issued

PITTSBURGH, PA — As Southwestern Pennsylvania deals with another day of near-record-setting high temperatures, the region’s air quality is deteriorating.

The National Weather Service has extended the Excessive Heat Warning that was issued Tuesday from Friday at 8 p.m. until Saturday at 8 p.m. Meanwhile, an Air Quality Alert is in effect for Thursday.

First, the heat wave: Expect more of the same. The high today and Friday will be 94 and is expected to jump to 96 on Saturday.

If you’re tired of this trend, the weather service says there is light at the end of the tunnel. Rain and a cold front on Sunday will cool things back to just above normal for Monday.

Unfortunately, the weather service is warning of another “tunnel” next week, with temperatures again climbing back into the 90s.

Now the Air Quality Alert.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has issued a Code Orange Air Quality Alert for Thursday, including the greater Pittsburgh region and Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Armstrong, Washington, Westmoreland and Fayette counties.

A Code Orange air quality alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, the elderly and those suffering from asthma, heart disease, or other lung diseases.

There also is a slight chance of severe thunderstorms developing today, although the weather service says the primary risk will be north of Pittsburgh.

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