PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the first time, Pennsylvania voters can cast "reason-free" mail-in ballots, before the April 21 deadline to vote by mail in the primary.
The Pennsylvania Department of State recently changed the law governing mail-in ballots. Lisa Deeley, chair of the city commissioners, said the state's election code has been one of the most prohibitive in the country, until now.
"Registered voters who simply wish to vote by mail, instead of going to their polling place on election day, they don't have to give any reason or excuse," she explained. "They can apply online or on a paper application for a mail-in ballot."
The number of mail-in ballot applications is higher in every county in the region than the number of absentee ballots in the 2016 election. "We took a look at what the rates were in 2016,"detailed Sandra Burke, director of Chester County Voter Services, "and in 2016, we did about 5,500 absentee ballot requests. And right now we are at 2,900 for both mail-in and absentee."
With more than a month go to before the deadline, Deeley believed the increase in mail-in and absentee requests showed two things.
"People are paying attention and they want to be engaged in the coming primary which is fantastic," she said. "It also indicates to us that people are going to take advantage of this new opportunity, early, by a mail-in ballot."
Burke suspected the outbreak of coronavirus could push those numbers even higher.
"Certainly voters now have that option if they have any concerns, where they can use that excuse-less mail-in ballot to vote in their homes, and not worry about going to the polls," said Burke.
