Gov. Tom Wolf put his signature on what has been described as the most significant change to Pennsylvania’s election laws in more than 80 years when they were written.

By signing the bill into law, registered voters will soon be able to cast their ballot from the convenience of their own home in every election – primary, general or special – without having to provide an excuse as to why they can’t make it to the polls on Election Day. Voters will be able to cast ballots by mail beginning with next year’s primary on April 28.

They also will be able register to vote as late as 15 days before an election, instead of the 30-day period that has been the rule for decades.

Further, they will be able to submit their mail-in or absentee ballot right up until 8 p.m. on the day of the election.

The law allows for a permanent mailing list for voters requesting to automatically receive an application for a mail-in or absentee ballot in another convenience.

Perhaps the most controversial change relates to eliminating “straight-party voting” - the option of pushing one button to vote for all the candidates in a single party in general elections. Voters will now have to check off their choice for every contest in the general election, as opposed to simply voting for all Democrats or all Republicans.

County commissioners are also breathing a sigh of relief because the law authorizes the borrowing of $90 million by the state to reimburse counties for up to 60 percent of the cost of replacing their voting machines with voter-verifiable paper trail election systems.

The legislation also provides $4 million for outreach efforts to work to ensure every Pennsylvanian is counted in the 2020 census.

“For too long Pennsylvania has made it too hard for the citizens to actually fully participate in our democracy," Wolf said at a bill-signing ceremony in the Governor’s Reception Room at the Capitol surrounded by lawmakers and representatives of advocacy groups who pushed for the reforms. “These changes will make it easier for people to vote, participate in our democracy, actually to take care of the most fundamental responsibility of citizenship: voting.”

The governor said the changes included in the bill align with the election code of states that have the highest voter participation. Right now, Pennsylvania, with a 51-percent voter participation rate in 2018, sits in the middle of the pack.

Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh County, who sponsored the original bill to eliminate the straight-party voting that only seven other states allow, said that change puts “political parties on the run and gives voters more control."

Several of her fellow Democrats opposed the legislation primarily because of the elimination of this voting option that is used heavily by members of minority groups in urban areas.

Boscola spoke highly of the mail-in voting option added to her bill that can turn kitchen tables into voting booths, research the candidates in real-time as they vote, and allow groups to gather to discuss the candidates and possibly fill out their ballots together.

“I think it’s pretty exciting,” she said.

Others who spoke at the bill-signing ceremony discussed the revised deadline for submitting absentee ballots. Voters will be able to apply for absentee ballots as far out from an election as 50 days and supporters said that will ensure more votes get counted.

"The way this bill expands access to the ballot outweighs the uncertain outcomes of eliminating the straight-ticket voting option” said Elizabeth Randol, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

Micah Sims, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said he was honored to be on hand to witness “this incredible moment in the history of the commonwealth, the moment we bring forward election reform that moves us toward a more accessible, secure, reflective, and representative democracy.”

But he added this isn’t the final step, but rather a first step in modernizing Pennsylvania’s elections. He acknowledged it took decades for his organization and others to get these reforms into law.

But now it’s up to Pennsylvanians to carry the ball.

“Please don’t allow these reform to be memorialized as words in an election code but become living testimony through voter participation and civic engagement," he said.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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