Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt recently addressed potential concerns over the upcoming presidential election in November in hopes of preempting conspiracy theories, writes Sean Kitchen for The Keystone.

Schmidt was cautiously optimistic about election officials being able to count mail-in ballots following the election.

“While the law hasn’t changed, a couple other things have,” he said. “Mail-in ballot voting, while still very popular, has been more in the 30 to 40 percent range as opposed to the 50 percent range. So that’s fewer votes being cast by mail.”

Additionally, in 2020, mail-in ballot voting was used for the first time in Pennsylvania so was new to the state’s election boards.

That year, it took until Saturday for President Joe Biden to be declared the winner due to the number of mail-in ballots that needed counting. The time between Election Day and Biden being declared the winner was used by some to spread misinformation about the results.

Pre-canvassing reforms could help the process by reducing the time it takes to get the election results by allowing election workers to start preparing and opening the ballots a week or two prior to Election Day, he added.

Read more about how Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Al Schmidt is addressing potential concerns regarding the upcoming presidential election in The Keystone.

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