ABC News: Mail-in voting delays in primary cause Pennsylvania to sound alarm about November

With Pennsylvania’s presidential and statewide primary June 2 its first election in which any voter could choose to vote by mail, election officials were always prepared for an increase in applications to do so.

What they weren’t expecting was the coronavirus pandemic and the 17-fold increase in voters wanting to cast their ballots away from the polling precincts.

Now, a week after the primary, votes are still being counted, leading local election officials to sound the alarm, warning America may not know the outcome in the battleground state on election night in November.

Suzanne Almeida, the interim director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said adding more secure ballot drop boxes would be an easy and cheap way for counties and local election officials to increase accessibility.

“Many of these reforms that we’re looking at are systemic and require and require significant additional funding,” Almeida said. “It’s a culture shift in Pennsylvania, as this is the first election we’ve ever voted by mail by these numbers.

“Folks need to understand that it’s better to get it right than to get it quick. That we’re just not going to see the kind of results on election night, when we see 2 million absentee ballots. And that’s okay, that it’s not evidence of shenanigans,” Almeida said.