It’s hard to turn down free money, but four of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties did just that to beef up their election delivery systems. Officials in the other 63, including the five in the Times News area, swallowed hard but decided to accept the goodly amount of cash by turning in their applications by the Aug. 15 deadline. Carbon, in fact, originally was going to reject the money, but then changed course when the pros were weighed against the cons.

In all, the state was doling out $45 million, but in exchange counties will be spending more for election personnel and administrative issues that are sure to pop up.

Prime among the concerns is the requirement to begin counting mail-in ballots at 7 a.m. Election Day, which is also when the polls open. Counties will have to switch around or add on staffing, which also will require more training and concerns over Election Day burnout. As part of what is known as the “Election Integrity Grant,” counties must now not only start at 7 a.m. but keep counting until all of the ballots are counted, regardless of how long it takes.

Some county officials, such as Crawford County Commissioners and Election Board Chair Chris Soff criticized this mandate, saying that obviously whoever dreamed up this idea has never worked on Election Day. Crawford County was one of the four which rejected the state’s grant. The others were Bradford, Montour and Susquehanna.

The purpose is to try to get election results in sooner. As it is now, some counties, such as Monroe, do not start counting their mail-in ballots until the day after Election Day, guaranteeing that results will be delayed until later in the week.

These state grants are quite a departure from past practices. Elections are the province of the counties, which also have been expected to fund them. The state does serve as a conduit if there is federal money to be spread around as there was during the early going of the COVID pandemic. The state also helps out when it mandates upgrading voting machines as was the case when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered this prior to the 2020 election.

Counties receive $5.15 for each of its registered voters. These grants are intended to be annual, not just a one-shot infusion of cash. The Republican-led General Assembly used this device to eliminate the use of private funds for the administration of elections in some counties. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg funded some of these programs with millions of dollars aimed at a number of counties across the country, including some here in Pennsylvania. The legislation is intended to “ensure the integrity of our elections,” the GOP leadership said.

Passage of Act 77 in 2019 allowed mail-in balloting without reasons. Its popularity caught on even more so than election officials expected, especially among Democrats. As a result, county election workers are in essence now conducting two simultaneous elections - the in-person voting on Election Day and the counting of mail-in votes. This has led to significant increases in costs for staffing, more and efficient equipment and more space in the county’s election bureau to do the job right.

Most county officials have been begging state lawmakers to start the mail-in count earlier than Election Day (known as pre-canvassing), but so far the legislators won’t budge. In fact, many Republican legislators want to do away with mail-in balloting completely with the exception of allowing it for those with disabilities or those who are away from their polling places on Election Day.

Here are the number of registered voters and amounts each of our five counties will get: Lehigh, 241,466-$1,243,469; Northampton, 220,685-$1,136,454; Monroe, 113,451-$584,235; Schuylkill, 88,103-$453,701, and Carbon, 43,656-$224,814.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.