Editorial: Is state election money a gift or a problem?

There is a lot of concern about the money in elections.

How do we know who is contributing to a campaign? Who is funding the political parties? Who is paying for the ads and the buses and the big-budget rallies?

There are questions about where the money is coming from and whether there should be limits. Pennsylvania’s races for governor and the U.S. Senate are drawing lots of attention because of their potential impact on national issues in Congress and in the 2024 elections. That attention comes with a lot of money — much of which comes from outside the state’s borders.

But now, there is a pot of cash being dangled in front of Pennsylvania counties like a fat worm on the end of a fishing line: $45 million in new money for counties to operate the elections.

Are these dollars rolling in from New York or California? From a Democratic billionaire or a Republican corporation?

Nope. They are part of the Pennsylvania state budget. But does that naturally make it an offer that should be considered without caution?

While help in pulling off the twice-a-year polls that are the backbone of our democracy is something that every county would appreciate, the state’s offer isn’t without strings.

The money would be allotted on a formula based on the number of voters. That means Allegheny County could get more than $4.7 million and Westmoreland County more than $1.2 million, while tiny Cameron and Forest counties would pocket less than $20,000 each.

In return for the state grants, the counties would have to forgo private money. That isn’t a bad idea, and it keeps the counties from even the suggestion of outside influence. That’s a good thing.

But it also requires the counties play by specific rules when it comes to how each county decides to operate its counts. Namely, they wouldn’t be able to start tallying mail-in ballots before 7 a.m. on election days and would be required to continue counting “without stopping” until complete.

For Cameron and Forest, that is unlikely to be a big deal. They each have fewer than 4,000 registered voters. With only a portion of those voting and a fraction of them mailing ballots, those counties can doubtless start those ballots at 7 a.m. and finish by lunch, if not in time for a mid-morning snack.

But there are close to a million voters in Allegheny County and almost 250,000 in Westmoreland County. Those are a lot more to process. Allegheny’s numbers have been part of the delay in the 2020 presidential election and the Senate race primary this year.

And what does “without stopping” mean? The 67 counties have had different interpretations of other issues, like drop boxes and whether ballot envelopes were invalid if undated. Those have caused election decision issues that ended up in court. “Without stopping” seems bound to do the same.

Court appearances mean more money that counties have to lay out for lawyers, and “without stopping” could mean big overtime costs for larger counties. Is the state’s money worth the trouble if it will be sucked up by these expenses?

The state consistently has fallen down on fixing the problems the elections have experienced in recent years, and it seems hellbent on creating new ones. At least this time, there’s money being offered. Wouldn’t voters — and taxpayers — be better off if the whole process was fixed so less money was needed?