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Mail Ballots Still Popular in Pennsylvania

Despite the growing unrest over vote-by-mail balloting in Harrisburg, the option still appears to be popular among Pennsylvania voters.

Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Leigh Chapman said Thursday that more than 849,000 voters had applied for a vote-by-mail ballot for the May 17 primary. That number includes 649,481 Democrats, 196,430 Republicans and 6,391 other party registrants.

Vote-by-mail (VBM) was instituted in the Commonwealth through Act 77 in 2019 and was first utilized during the 2020 presidential primary. Republican lawmakers have now united in opposition against it, noting concerns in election integrity among some Pennsylvania voters.

The Commonwealth Court struck down Act 77 earlier this year, saying it requires a change in the state constitution. The state Supreme Court stayed that ruling and VBM remains in effect while it is on appeal.

The latest Franklin & Marshall College poll which was conducted from April 20 through May 1 revealed that 52 percent of the 792 respondents said they were dissatisfied with the way elections are conducted in the state – more than double that in August 2020.

That number has risen in part to claims by supporters of former president Donald Trump that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

According to the Pew Research center, 82% of Biden supporters are very confident their own vote was counted accurately, just 35% of Trump supporters say the same.

For votes cast in person at polling places, nearly all Biden voters (98%) say that they are confident that votes were counted as intended, compared with 64% of Trump voters. For votes cast by absentee or mail, 95% of Biden voters say they are confident in vote counts — just two-in-ten Trump voters (19%) say this.

Seven-in-ten mail voters (70%) and a similar share of in-person early voters (72%) say convenience was a major reason they voted the way they did. A much narrower majority (54%) of in-person Election Day voters cited convenience as a major reason for doing so.

Since mail-in ballots were first made available by historic bipartisan legislation, more than 4.7 million of these ballots have been cast by Pennsylvania voters, according to the Department of State. 

 

15 Responses

  1. Having polling locations set up twice a year in some firehall, church basement or municipal building in remote locations is the most out of date and inefficient way to conduct voting and elections in modern times. Not enough people want to serve on precinct boards anymore and, for the most part, the ones that still do tend to be elderly and getting infirm. Republicans and especially crybaby Trumper MAGA fools just use mail in voters as one of their FALSE crutches to cry about election fraud.

    If we would all face facts, the future should be entirely mail in or GASP….. on line voting from home!!!!!

  2. Dems do not trust voting in PA because they fear everybody else is crooks and cheaters like them.

    1. This is contrary to evidence. There is NO evidence of any significant cheating in the 2020 election. The few cases of voter fraud have mostly been by Republicans, it seems.

  3. The only voter fraud I’ve read about have been the MAGAts. They don’t seem to be able to grasp you can’t vote in multiple districts. They don’t seem to be able to grasp it’s illegal to cast a vote for your dead parents or spouse. trump was right, they’re poorly educated.

      1. Pandemic. When your Governor shuts down your state, people are not allowed to gather, but it’s a Presidential Primary, gotta find a way to vote. I was an appropriate idea at the time, but it is flawed legislation that needs fixed. Talk to any county election office.

  4. Most PA voters like 99.9 percent are not committing vote fraud with mail-in and see mail-in voting as a voter friendly way to participate in elections. Just because “Orange Hair”’and his minions of MAGA world think it is corrupt doesn’t mean it is true. It’s a convenient way to be involved with the democratic process.

  5. Yes, mail-in voting would be easier, but I don’t trust GOP and some lunatic judge to invalidate them somehow someway. Thus, I go to the polls and vote in person.

    1. That is fine. It is great to vote in person at the polls, and it gives a better chance of your vote being counted. The main problem with mail-in voting is that some ballots are tossed out for reasons like the voter forgetting to put the ballot in the inside envelope. However, not everyone can conveniently vote in person, for example those who are out of state or have an illness or disability that makes it difficult or impossible for them. Both options should be available to all.

  6. The only “unrest” over mail-in ballots in Harrisburg is from the GOP, who wants to suppress votes and block anything that increases turnout an representation.

    The 65% of Trump supporters who question whether their ballots were counted properly are misinformed idiots.

    1. GOP do not trust voting in PA because they fear everybody else is crooks and cheaters like them.

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