Pennsylvania Senate Passes Elections Modernization Bills

Press Center

For Immediate Release

April 17, 2013

Contact: Barry Kauffman

(717) 232-9951

Pennsylvania Senate Passes Elections Modernization Bills

By a 49 to 0 vote the Pennsylvania Senate passed two important election modernization bills today. SB-37, by Senator Lloyd Smucker of Lancaster County, will allow all voting age citizens to register to vote directly over the internet.

A dozen other states already permit their citizens to do On-Line Registration, and 13 other states are moving to provide this right. Barry Kauffman, Executive Director of the good government lobbying group Common Cause/PA said “Common Cause/PA applauds Senator Smucker for this important legislation.

Not only will this make registering more convenient and more timely for voters, it also will dramatically reduce counties’ and the state’s voter registration processing costs, improve the accuracy of registrations and official voter rolls, and improve security of registrations by preventing bad actors from intercepting confidential information or failing to turn in legitimate registrations.”

The Senate also approved SB-120. This bill was produced by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi of Chester and Delaware Counties. By requiring all campaign finance disclosure reports to be filed electronically, citizens and the media will get vital information about candidates in real time.

By having this information for all candidates before the election, news and information outlets will be able to provide voters with valuable information about who is backing candidates and how much they are spending.

Kauffman said “Senator Pileggi’s efforts to elevate transparency of who is backing candidates is a welcome and long-overdue reform. Voters will be able to quickly learn who candidates’ major donors are. This is important information for voters as they make decisions about who should lead our elected governmental bodies.”

The bill applies to candidates running for Governor, Lt. Governors, Auditor General, Attorney General, State Treasurer, State Senate, State House of Representatives, and the Appellate Courts.