



I haven’t had reports of Putin, his minions and his bots being spotted in Bucks County or in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but I’m still worried about the timely and accurate counting of the vote in the 2020 election. Due to the passage of a new law in Pennsylvania and new voting machines, major problems could result.

The Philadelphia Inquirer last week talked about a new law that allows people to vote by absentee ballot without having to give any reason or justification. In the past, college students, those with physical disabilities, the military, those out of their county on Election Day due to work or vacation, or those celebrating a religious holiday on Election Day were able to vote by absentee ballot.

This is a misguided new policy. I’m a firm believer in the benefits of having as many of the American people vote together on Election Day. I reject the idea that the burden is too great. It comes from the camp that rejects voter identification as necessary to ensure fair elections. It comes from progressives who are constantly whining about voter suppression.

One of the consequences of this new law is that many counties fear that they will be overwhelmed by counting absentee ballots after the polls close on Election Day. The Inquirer reported last week that Bucks County elections director Tom Freitag told county commissioners that his office wouldn’t be counting “until a few days later.” Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo asked Freitag, “So, if there’s an election that’s somewhat close, it’s really going to be up in the air until two, three days later?” Freitag responded. “Yes, probably.”

What? This view is shared apparently by a number of county election directors. This is completely unacceptable. President Trump only won Pennsylvania in 2016 by 44,292 votes which is less than 1% of the 6.1 million cast.

I can tell you in talks with both top ranking Democratic and Republican operatives that Pennsylvania is a crown jewel of the swing states. What would happen if it was the state that determined the election and we were delayed an official result by two or three days. It would make the Bush versus Gore Florida recount in 2000 look like a picnic.

Progressives have been committed to removing President Trump from office even before he was sworn in. In 2016, I interviewed members of the Electoral College in Pennsylvania and other states because they were committed to vote for President Trump. If the election hung in the balance, all hell would break loose. Trump supporters would worry that enough absentee ballots would magically appear to turn the election against Trump. Progressives would fear Russian operatives were headed to Doylestown to steal the election.

All this is playing out in front of us and we need to wake up to an obvious solution. It appears given the new reality that the county offices need more resources to deal with the surge in absentee ballots. They should get those resources. Also, we should demand that they start counting absentee ballots immediately after the polls close.

This demands that we light a fire under legislators and not allow them to hunker down in their business-as-usual lack of urgency stance. Instead, I expect they will start a campaign to convince citizens that we can’t get this done on election night.

This election cycle is going to be the most intense that we have ever seen. The upside is that we will see voters engaged with the process. To gain more acceptance of the outcome, we need to count the vote as quickly as possible.

Dom Giordano can be heard daily from 9 a.m. to noon on Talk Radio 1210 AM and can be reached at @domshow1210 on twitter and domshow@aol.com.