Roae Introduces Bill to Bring Transparency Back to Election Results

HARRISBURG - Rep. Brad Roae (R-Crawford/Erie) recently introduced legislation to require the Pennsylvania Department of State (DOS) to display the number of precincts reporting on election night results, as was done about five years ago.

"Up until a few years ago, the website would show numbers like 500 out of 5,000 precincts reporting," Roae said. "This created transparency and allowed the public to evaluate whether the outcome was still in question. Knowing the differential in the number of votes received means nothing unless you have a general idea of how many votes are left to count. It's like watching a football game and having no idea how much time is left. The Department of State already has this information. Officials just refuse to release it to the public."

House Bill 2542 would require DOS to include on its website the number of precincts reporting and the total number of precincts in its preliminary election results in each race.

The bill has been referred to the House State Government Committee for consideration.

The 6th Legislative District includes the city of Meadville; Beaver, Conneaut, East Fairfield, East Fallowfield, East Mead, Fairfield, Greenwood, Hayfield, North Shenango, Pine, Randolph, Sadsbury, South Shenango, Spring, Summerhill, Summit, Union, Vernon, Wayne, West Fallowfield, West Mead and West Shenango townships; and Cochranton, Conneaut Lake, Conneautville, Linesville and Springboro boroughs in Crawford County and Conneaut, Elk Creek and Springfield townships and Albion and Cranesville boroughs in Erie County.

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