The PA Chamber of Business and Industry, the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia and the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, today issued the following joint statement in regards to potential changes to the state’s Elections Code:
“As representatives of the Commonwealth’s broad-based business community, our collective mission is to advocate for pro-growth policies that will create greater prosperity and a better quality of life for all Pennsylvania residents. Our efforts in this arena have included working on reducing barriers to employment through criminal justice reform, increasing the availability of quality childcare for working parents; and enhancing training and educational opportunities to create pathways to address the state’s jobs skills gap and strengthen our workforce; as well as encouraging the state’s residents to become more civically engaged and exercise their right to vote. That is why we supported the sweeping election reform legislation that was signed into law in 2019, which made it easier for people to vote by allowing for broad-based mail-in voting and eliminating straight party voting, thereby enabling voters to focus on the candidate’s qualifications over their party affiliation.
“As modifications to Pennsylvania’s election laws are considered we again voice that support for ongoing and robust civic engagement that allows Pennsylvania to attract and retain the investments and people needed for the Commonwealth to thrive.
“As with any major policy overhaul, there is typically a need for fine tuning after the changes are implemented. Such is the case with Pennsylvania’s election law. As the legislature weighs possible modifications to the law, we encourage elected officials to address any variation in processes, while continuing to encourage greater voter turnout by allowing for the continuation of an appropriate broad mail-in voting process. Going forward, we strongly believe that transparency and a uniform application of the law are essential for voters to have faith in Pennsylvania’s electoral process.
“Pennsylvania needs a clear and easy to understand law that encourages citizens to exercise their right to vote, makes it equally accessible for registered voters to exercise that right and creates a transparent, consistent and secure process that engenders trust in the integrity of our electoral system.”