HB 1800 | Omnibus voting and elections changes

Session: 2021-2022

ACLU-PA Position: Opposes

HB 1800 is an omnibus bill that would introduce significant changes to the Pennsylvania Election Code. While there are certainly some provisions in HB 1800 that the ACLU-PA would support, the bill contains numerous problematic changes, including ones that:

• Change, grant, and/or expand election-related authority vested in: the Auditor General; county boards of elections; local election officials and poll workers; the Election Law Advisory Board; the Attorney General; and county district attorneys.
• Require voter ID, but with fewer ID options currently available to PA voters.
• Shorten the deadline or time to: register to vote; apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot; vote a mail-in or absentee ballot; and canvass ballots and tabulate election results.
• Require signature matching—an historically unreliable and unworkable requirement for elections.
• Impose unnecessary restrictions or limitations on ballot return locations; polling locations; and vote centers.
• Grant the General Assembly special standing in challenges to the Election Code.
• Create new election-related offenses while doubling criminal penalties for existing Election Code offenses.

Check the bill's status here.