WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pennsylvania House Democrats passed a bill yesterday that would allow election officials to begin counting mail-in ballots seven days before an election.

“We need to ensure that Pennsylvania does not become a national embarrassment on Election Day,” state Rep. Scott Conklin (D) said in a memo. He noted that officials would be able to open, inspect and count ballots, but not publish the results before Election Day.

Currently, in Pennsylvania, the election officials can’t start counting absentee and mail-in ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day. Conklin, the prime sponsor of House Bill 847, continued in his memo that more people are voting via mail now, so counting ballots and releasing election results is taking significantly longer, and he expects this trend to continue into the 2024 election and beyond.

He stated that delays in results can lead to “voter suspicion and unfounded conspiracies” and that allowing election officials to tabulate votes earlier would “significantly expedite” the release of results and mitigate this issue. This follows the events after the 2020 election when it took Pennsylvania four days before projecting President Joe Biden as the winner in the state.