FILE – Chester County, Pa., election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., Nov. 4, 2020. Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, approved a bill long-sought by counties seeking help to manage huge influxes of mail-in ballots during elections in the presidential battleground state and to avoid a repeat of 2020’s drawn-out vote count. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is advancing legislation long sought by counties seeking help to manage huge influxes of mail-in ballots during elections in the presidential battleground state. The bill passed on party lines Wednesday, 102-99, as Democrats backed it and Republicans opposed it, warning that it would open the door to fraud. Under the bill, county election workers could start processing ballots up to seven days before election day. Nearly every state allows time before Election Day for workers to process mail-in ballots. Currently, Pennsylvania doesn’t let counties begin before Election Day. It faces long odds in the Senate, where the GOP majority insists that Pennsylvania first toughen voter identification requirements.