PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A massive election reform bill pushed by Republicans has passed the Pennsylvania State Senate.
The legislation is now on the way to Gov. Tom Wolf for a likely veto.
“This bill will transform our election system for the better and – you’ve heard this phrase before - make it easier to vote and harder to cheat," said State Senator David Argyle, R-Berks and Schuylkill counties.
State Senator Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh and Northampton County, said there are parts of the nearly 150-page bill that she wants to support.
She said that the good of the bill is outweighed by what she believes are its negative parts, like reducing access to drop boxes.
“I know that by working together, because the governor is going to veto this, we can come up with a much better product that we all can agree on, that can garner true bipartisan support," said Boscola.
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Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny County) also shared that there are parts of the bill where most legislators agree, including allowing counties to prepare to count mail-in ballots before election day, or drop box security measures.
“Where our objection lies very, very clearly is the voter identification piece to this," said Costa.
Democrats argued that things like voter ID and signature verification are a solution looking for a problem, and are essentially voter suppression rather than security.
Senator John Gornder, a Republican who serves six central Pennsylvania counties, said Democrats have been skewing the voter ID portion of the bill.
“We’ve provided so many different means for someone to have an ID," he said.
"We’re going to have the State Department send new IDs out to make sure those 90-year-old folks have something recent and something to show.”
Supporters of the bill said it was based on 10 hearings with testimony from more than 50 people.
But Democrats said they were not included in actual crafting of the legislation.
The bill passed the Senate on party lines, 29-21. It passed the House 110-91 earlier this week and heads to Wolf’s desk.
Wolf has repeatedly said he will veto the bill.
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