Pennsylvania State Rep. Diamond Working on Ending No-Excuse Mail-In Voting Whether or Not It Survives the Courts

As Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) appeals a court ruling against no-excuse absentee voting, a state representative hopes to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to decisively end the practice.

A bill authored by State Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon), who is also running for lieutenant governor, would explicitly limit mail-in voting to those who are sick, injured or traveling. This status quo existed before Wolf signed Act 77 in October 2019. 

Diamond and nearly all other Republican legislators voted for the new law for reasons unrelated to its expansion of absentee voting. For one thing, the act abolished the straight-party voting option that used to appear on every Pennsylvania election ballot. The law furthermore provided $90 million for the purchase of new voting devices to replace older machines that Wolf forced counties to decommission. 

Despite favoring those sections of Act 77, Diamond Wednesday wrote a blog post calling that bill “the only vote I ever regret making in my seven years in Harrisburg,” mentioning the component allowing unexcused mail-in voting as the reason. He stated he no longer believes that provision is constitutional, citing the case made by Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko (R) whose arguments convinced the Republican-controlled Commonwealth Court to strike down that part of the law…. (Excerpts from the Pennsylvania Daily Star)