Voting In Pennsylvania

In-person voting
Voting via absentee or mail-in ballot
Requesting an absentee or mail-in ballot
Checking the status of your request for an absentee or mail-ballot
Returning your absentee or mail-in ballot

May You Vote In-Person If You Requested an Absentee or Mail-In Ballot?

Are You Qualified to Vote?
To be able to vote in Pennsylvania, you must reside in the Commonwealth, be a U.S. citizen, and be at least eighteen (18) years old on the day of the election. Everyone who meets these requirements is qualified to vote in Pennsylvania. The only exception is that adults serving a prison sentence for a felony conviction are prohibited from voting while they remain incarcerated. Those charged with a felony but not convicted and those no longer incarcerated after serving their sentence are permitted to vote.

Are You Registered to Vote?

Before any qualified Pennsylvanian voter may cast a ballot, they must first register to vote. This year, Pennsylvanians have until October 19, 2020 to do so in order to vote in the General Election on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. If you have not voted in awhile or are not sure if you are still registered, you should check your registration status online here.

How Do You Register to Vote?
If you are not registered to vote or if you need to amend your registration due to a name or address change since the last election, then you can do so online here. You can also fill out a paper registration form which you can get online here or by going to your county board of elections and completing it there. Once filled out, mail or hand deliver it to your county board of elections. But remember, you only have until October 19, 2020 to do so.

How Do You Cast Your Vote?
Once registered, Pennsylvania provides voters multiple ways to vote in the upcoming election—in-person voting, absentee ballot voting, and mail-in voting. As in the past, you can vote in person at your polling place or you can vote by absentee ballot. Additionally, and importantly, any Pennsylvanian now can vote by mail. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no meaningful difference in voting via an absentee versus a mail-in ballot.

In-person voting
For those choosing to vote in person, you should go to your designated polling place and cast your vote on the day of the election—Tuesday, November 3, 2020 between 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. If you are not sure where your polling place is located, you can check online here. Otherwise, you can contact your county board of elections, or, in the case of residents of Philadelphia, the City Commissioners. Most counties intend to have as many polling places as they did in the general election in November 2019. But, in some cases, they may have moved or consolidated a few of them. Make sure you check where your polling place is located.

In Pennsylvania, only first-time voters or those voting for the first time in a precinct are required to show identification when they vote in person. Generally, voters use their Pennsylvania driver’s license or a PennDOT ID card. But other forms of photo and non-photo identification are permitted. Other permissible photo identifications include an ID issued by any Commonwealth agency, an ID issued by the U.S. Government, a U.S. passport, a U.S. Armed Forces ID, a student ID, and an employee ID.

Permissible forms of non-photo ID include a confirmation issued by the County Voter Registration Office, non-photo ID issued by the Commonwealth, non-photo ID issued by the U.S. Government, firearm permit, current utility bill, current bank statement, current paycheck, or government check.

Voting via absentee or mail-in ballot

If you cannot or do not want to vote in person, you can vote by absentee ballot or mail-in ballot. You can request an absentee ballot if you plan to be out of the municipality on election day or if you have a disability or illness. Pennsylvania also allows any qualified elector without any excuse to request a mail-in ballot. Requests for absentee or mail-in ballots must be received by mail, in person, or online by your county board of election by 5 p.m. on October 27, 2020. Given the potential problems with the U.S. Postal Service, it is best to make your request online or in person well before the deadline.

Requesting an absentee or mail-in ballot

If you have a Pennsylvania driver’s license or PennDOT ID, you submit your request for an absentee or mail-in ballot online—which is a much faster and easier method. To request an absentee or mail-in ballot, you can do so online here. From that webpage, check “I’m not a robot” and then “Begin your application.”

If you do not have a Pennsylvania driver’s license or PennDOT ID, you can print out a paper request form, fill it out, and mail or hand deliver to your county board of elections. You can get a paper request form here (for absentee ballot in English), here (for absentee ballot in Spanish), here (for mail-in ballot in English), or here (for a mail-in ballot in Spanish). You can also go to your local county board of elections and make the request at their office.

Checking the status of your request for an absentee or mail-ballot

You can check the status of your request for an absentee or mail-in ballot by going online here. If you provide the relevant information, the webpage will tell you when you requested an absentee or mail-in ballot, when that request was processed, when your ballot was sent to you, and when your county board of elections received your absentee or mail-in ballot. If you do not receive your ballot by October 27, 2020, we strongly encourage you to contact your county board of elections.

Completing your absentee or mail-in ballot

When you receive your absentee or mail-in ballot, you will receive a package that has four items: a card with instructions for completing your ballot, a ballot, and two envelopes—a secrecy envelope and an outer envelope.

Fill out the ballot with black pen. (Although the instructions say black or blue pen, it is strongly recommended that voters use black as it is more readable with the scanners used to count the votes.) Make sure you use the same pen for the entire ballot and stay within the blocks when selecting candidates. There is no longer an option for voting a straight party ticket, so you need to indicate for whom you are voting for each office for which you want to cast a vote.

Once you have selected your candidates, place your ballot within the white, secrecy envelope. Seal that envelope and make no marks or other writing on that envelope. Ballots returned without a secrecy envelope will NOT be counted in the election, so make sure you use it. If you did not receive a secrecy envelope, contact your county board of elections.

You then place the secrecy envelope inside the outer envelope. Seal the outer envelope. You then sign the declaration, and in the appropriate locations, print the date, your name, street address, and city and zip code. If you are unable to fill out this information on your own, then you need to have a witness fill out the section as indicated.

The Pennsylvania Department of State has provided a quick, informative video on completing your absentee or mail-in ballot which is here.

Returning your absentee or mail-in ballot
You have several options for returning your ballot to your county board of elections. You can hand deliver it to the main office of your county board of elections. You can hand deliver it to a satellite office or a drop box created by your county board of elections (if it chose to establish such options). Philadelphia intends to have seventeen (17) satellite offices and other county boards of election intend to have some too. Philadelphia, the five suburban counties around the City, as well as Allegheny County all have drop boxes. If you want to learn if your county board of elections has a satellite office or drop boxes, check their websites or call them.

The deadline for receipt of mail-in ballots delivered in person to a county board of elections, satellite office, or drop box is 8 pm on Election Day—November 3, 2020. If you mail your ballot, it will be counted if it reaches your county board of elections by 5 pm on November 6, 2020 and is postmarked by 8 pm on November 3, 2020. Ballots delivered by mail and received by this deadline will be presumed to have been sent prior to the Election Day deadline.

Due to the possible delays in Postal Service, we strongly encourage everyone who votes by absentee or mail-in ballot to deliver those completed ballots IN PERSON as soon as possible to your county board of elections or a satellite office or a drop box of your county board of elections. We further advise everyone to do so when we get within ten (10) days of the election. There is simply no guarantee your ballot will reach your county board of elections by the deadline if you mail them with less than ten (10) days until Election Day.

May You Vote Early in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania effectively has early voting until October 27, 2020. Any voter can go down to his or her county board of elections or satellite office, request a mail-in ballot, fill-out that ballot, and submit it. Some county boards of elections intend to have flexible hours for their main office and satellite offices, including evenings and weekends, to permit voters to cast their ballots in this fashion. You should check the hours of your county board of election if you wish to use this option. To save time, we advise you to register to vote, if you have not, before attempting early voting. It takes significantly more time to register to vote and request a mail-in ballot in one visit.

May You Vote In Person If You Requested an Absentee or Mail-In Ballot?

Voters who request an absentee or mail-in ballot, but decide they want to vote in person on Election Day, are permitted to do so. You simply must bring to your polling place the absentee or mail-in ballot, the secrecy envelope, and the outer envelope. The Judge of Elections at your voting place will take these materials, cancel your absentee or mail-in ballot (also known as “spoiling the ballot”), have you sign an affidavit indicating you have NOT voted using your absentee or mail-in ballot, and allow you to proceed to vote in person. While this procedure is permissible, our firm recommends that voters obtain, fill out, and deliver an absentee or mail-in ballot prior to Election Day.

What If I Have Questions About Voting in PA?

If you have any questions about voting in PA, you should contact your county board of elections. You can also direct your questions to John R. Bielski at our firm at jbielski@wwdlaw.com.

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