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Keystone Votes

Formation:

November 2015
State Coordinator of Keystone Votes:

Ray Murphy (also the deputy director of Pennsylvania Voice)

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Keystone Votes is a coalition of groups that promote making substantial changes to Pennsylvania’s election system. The organization was established in November 2015 as Keystone Votes-The Coalition for Modern Elections. 1

Keystone Votes advocates four substantial changes to election procedures in Pennsylvania. These are: Optional vote-by-mail, in-person early voting, same-day voter registration, and youth pre-registration. 2

Although the organization professes it is nonpartisan, coalition members include liberal organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Pennsylvania, Common Cause’s Pennsylvania state affiliate, and the Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania chapter. 3

Management

The coalition is staffed by the group Pennsylvania Voice, which previously established a voting reform and election administration workgroup. The workgroup sets strategy decisions for Keystone Votes. 4

Keystone Votes State Coordinator Ray Murphy is also the deputy director of Pennsylvania Voice. 5

Murphy has argued that expanding access to absentee ballots would decrease cost and demand for in-person voting and address the shortage of poll workers. 6

Advocacy

The coalition lobbies members of the Pennsylvania state legislature to make voting easier. 7

The organization began contending Pennsylvania’s voting laws hadn’t had serious updates in more than 80 years. The group professes to want to increase both voter participation and election security. 8

The organization helped push the passage of Act 77 that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed in October 2019 creates a vote-by-mail ballot, allows voters to register up to 15 days before an election, eases the absentee-ballot deadlines, and provides $90 million to help counties finance replacing voting machines. 9

The coalition backed doing away with the straight-party ticket voting option on ballot, that allows a voter to push a single button and vote for all Republicans or all Democrats. Further, the group backs “no-excuses” absentee voting that allows voters to vote with an absentee ballot without providing a reason. 10

Keystone Votes partnered with the state’s ACLU to advocate for same-day voter registration, optional voting by mail and in-person early voting. 11

The organization further supports an open primary system to allow voters to pick the primary in which they choose to vote on primary day. 12

Membership

Coalition members include All Voting is Local, America Votes, Asian Americans United, Business for America, CASA, Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interest of the Elderly, Clean Water Action, Committee of Seventy, Conservation PA, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, Disability Rights Pennsylvania, Education Voters Pennsylvania, Equality Pennsylvania, Fair Elections Legal Network, Homeless Advocacy Project, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, Just Harvest, Keystone Progress Education Fund, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania, Make the Road Pennsylvania, National Council of Jewish Women of Pittsburgh, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, OnePA, PennEnvironment, Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, Philadelphia VIP, Pittsburgh United, Project HOME, Public Interest Law Center, Put People First, SEAMAAC Inc., SeniorLAW Center, Urban League of Philadelphia, Voting Rights Lab, and Women’s Law Project. 13 Many of the member organizations are left-of-center advocacy and special-interest groups.

Philadelphia Voter Registration Report

Keystone Votes released a study in June 2017 that purported to show evidence of problems in processing voter registration forms in Philadelphia County in the lead up to the 2016 election. It estimated 17,000 applications were processed late. 14

The study said county officials processed a large number of applications within eight days of the November 8 election and in some cases lost the applications. This meant that voters were unlikely to get a card in the mail informing them of their polling place. 15

The report claimed 3.8 percent of valid voter registration applications were processed late in Philadelphia County, the highest rate in the state and 8.5 times higher than the state average. 16

References

  1. Press Release. Accessed March 6, 2020.  http://seniorlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Keystone-Votes-Launch-Press-Release.pdf
  2. Press Release. “Leading Advocacy Organizations Launch Keystone Votes Campaign to Update PA’s Elections.” Accessed March 6, 2020.  http://seniorlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Keystone-Votes-Launch-Press-Release.pdf
  3. About. Keystone Votes. March 6, 2020. http://www.keystonevotes.org/about-us
  4. About. Keystone Votes. Accessed March 6, 2020. http://www.keystonevotes.org/about-us
  5. Previti, Emily. “Lawmakers Set Election Reform Agenda: Five Takeways.” Pennsylvania Post. September 17, 2019. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://papost.org/2019/09/17/lawmakers-set-election-reform-agenda-five-takeaways/
  6. Previti, Emily. “Lawmakers Set Election Reform Agenda: Five Takeways.” Pennsylvania Post. September 17, 2019. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://papost.org/2019/09/17/lawmakers-set-election-reform-agenda-five-takeaways/
  7. Press Release. Accessed March 6, 2020.  http://seniorlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Keystone-Votes-Launch-Press-Release.pdf
  8. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.ceislermedia.com/keystonevotes
  9. Accessed March 6, 2020.  https://www.ceislermedia.com/keystonevotes
  10. Murphy, Jan. “Bill Modernizing Pa. Elections Would Add No-Excuse Absentee Ballots to Voting Options.” Pennsylvania Live. October 22, 2019. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/10/bill-modernizing-pa-elections-would-add-no-excuse-absentee-ballots-to-voting-options.html
  11. Vigneri, Sara and Bazaz, Aggie. “In a City Where 15 Percent of Voters Elected the Mayor, Downtown is Claiming Power.” Next City. November 6, 2017. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/voter-turnout-campaigns-civic-engagement
  12. Murphy, Jan. “Bill to Move Open Primary Elections Represents ‘A Promising Day for Independent Voters Across Pa.’ June 18, 2019. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/06/bill-to-move-to-open-primary-elections-represents-a-promising-day-for-independent-voters-across-pa.html
  13. About. Keystone Votes. Accessed March 6, 2020. http://www.keystonevotes.org/about-us
  14. Press Release. “Keystone Votes Coalition Report Indicates Thousands of Lost or Late Voter Registration Records in 2016.” June 5, 2017. Accessed March 6, 2020.  https://seventy.org/uploads/files/471453302371191889-voter-registration-report-bpec-press-release-6-5-17-final.pdf
  15. Press Release. “Keystone Votes Coalition Report Indicates Thousands of Lost or Late Voter Registration Records in 2016.” June 5, 2017. Accessed March 6, 2020.  https://seventy.org/uploads/files/471453302371191889-voter-registration-report-bpec-press-release-6-5-17-final.pdf
  16. Press Release. “Keystone Votes Coalition Report Indicates Thousands of Lost or Late Voter Registration Records in 2016.” June 5, 2017. Accessed March 6, 2020.  https://seventy.org/uploads/files/471453302371191889-voter-registration-report-bpec-press-release-6-5-17-final.pdf
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