Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, the process for curing ballot issues varies by county. If you have a problem with your mail-in ballot, please contact your county elections office to determine your eligibility for a provisional ballot. If your mail-in ballot is deemed invalid due to not using the required secrecy envelope or any other procedural error, you have the right to cast a provisional ballot, which must be counted. The deadline for counting provisional ballots is November 12, 2024. 

Your county board of elections will determine your eligibility based on the election district where you voted. They will contact you about any issues with your provisional ballot at least eight days before the certification of the election. You can check the status of your provisional ballot by calling 1-877-VOTESPA or using your state’s online tool. 

For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.

For information on state campaign contributions, please visit your state's resource.

Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures may be available here.

Contact your county election office for details on early voting, mail-in ballot returns, and ballot drop-off locations. To confirm if your county still has early voting, contact your county election office.

Pennsylvania Counties allow voters to request, complete, and return mail-in ballots all at once before Election Day in their local County Election Office. Contact your County Election Office to find hours of operation for early over-the-counter voting in your county.

The next election dates can be found here https://www.vote411.org/pennsylvania.

Contact your local Board of Elections, for information about local elections.

To be eligible to vote you must be:

• A citizen of the United States for at least one month before the next election
• A resident of Pennsylvania and the district in which you register and vote for at least 30 days before the next election
• At least 18 years of age on or before the day of the next election.

Please note to vote in a primary you must be registered and enrolled in a political party.

Pennsylvania 

Incarcerated Voters & Returning Citizens: 

In Pennsylvania, you only lose your right to vote if you are currently incarcerated for a felony conviction. If you lost your voting rights because of a conviction, you could register to vote immediately after release. Your voting rights are not restricted by pretrial detention, misdemeanors, probation, or parole. Note: This does not apply if you have been convicted of a violation of the Pennsylvania Election Code. 

Voters without traditional residence:  

If you do not have a street address or a permanent residence, use the map on the back of the voter registration form to show where you live or spend most of your time, with landmarks and road names. If you do not receive mail at your residential address, the mailing address on their registration form can be a PO box, local shelter, advocacy organization, outreach center, or the home of someone who will accept mail for you. 

If you have a state driver's license, you must provide your driver's license number on your registration form. If you do not have a state license you must supply the last 4 digits of your social security number. If you do not have a Social Security Number, write none in the space provided for this number.

Unless your are a first time voter, you do not need to show any ID to vote a regular ballot on Election Day.

First time voters are required to show some form of ID, but it does not need to be a photo ID. Acceptable forms of ID are:

• Pennsylvania driver's license or PENNDOT ID card
• ID issued by any Commonwealth agency
• ID issued by the US Government
• US Passport
• US armed Forces ID
• Student ID
• Employee ID
• Confirmation issued by the County Voter Registration Office
• Non-photo ID issued by the Commonwealth that shows name and address
• Non-photo ID issued by the US Government that shows name and address
• Firearm permit
• Current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck or government check that shows name and address

All voters may be asked to show ID at the polls, however, you cannot be stopped from voting a regular ballot if you do not provide a valid ID.

Voters can call or text 844-338-8743 at any time to reach VoteRiders Voter ID Helpline

Official results are never available on Election Day. Election officials are working around the clock to count an unprecedented number of ballots, and it’s essential that they take the time to make sure every vote is counted.

Absentee ballots begin being counted on Election Day. Provisional ballots are counted 7 days after the election.

Officials cannot begin to process mail ballots until Election Day. Official election results will be uploaded on Pennsylvania’s Department of State website as they become available. 

You are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation.

If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.

You can make sure we have safe, fair, and efficient elections for all. Become a poll worker today!

In order to be a poll worker in Pennsylvania, you must be:

• Registered to vote in Pennsylvania
• 18 years old
• A resident of election district for the 30 days before the election.
• A Student enrolled in a high school, 17 years old, may be appointed with written permission from a parent, guardian or school principal

To sign up, contact your local board of elections.

The polling places are open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.

You can find your polling place by utilizing your state resource.

If you have further questions on your polling place location, please contact your county clerk.

Pennsylvania is a “closed primary” state. In order to vote in the primary election, voters must be registered with a political party. Unaffiliated or independent voters are not able to participate in the primary.

If you have any questions about your state’s primary election, please contact your local election officials.

You may vote a provisional ballot if you meet specific conditions.

You may vote a provisional ballot if:

• You try to vote in an election district and your name does not appear on the poll book and the elections officials cannot determine your registration.
• If you do not have an approved form of ID when you appear to vote
• The election official says you are not eligible to vote.

You are required to vote by provisional ballot if:

• You're voting as a result of a Federal or State court order.
• You are voting as a result of an order extending the time established for closing the polls by state law that is in effect 10 days before an election.

Provisional ballots are counted 7 days after Election Day. You can check the status of your provisional ballot using the information provided to you on the provisional ballot identification receipt, call 1-877-VOTES-PA or visit the department of state. Provide your provisional ballot identification number.

Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice, other than the voter's employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter's union. The Judge of Elections cannot assist a voter with disabilities.

For those voters who have a disability or are elderly and assigned to an inaccessible polling place, you may request an Alternative Ballot. An Alternative Ballot may be cast with the county board of elections by 8 p.m. (or the close of polls) on Election Day. You can request an Alternative Ballot is available by:

• Contacting your county board of elections
• By downloading the Alternative Ballot Form

Applications for alternative ballots must be submitted to your County Board of Elections no later than 5pm on the Tuesday before Election Day.

Should you have any access needs at your polling center, or any questions, call the Disability Rights Pennsylvania at their intake line: 1.800.692.7443.

If you run into any problems or have questions on Election Day, call the Election Protection Hotline:

• English: 1-866-OUR-VOTE / 1-866-687-8683
• Spanish: 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA / 1-888-839-8682
• Arabic: 1-844-YALLA-US / 1-844-925-5287
• For Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, or Vietnamese: 1-888-274-8683

For more information, you can utilize the American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) resource.

The deadline for registering to vote is 15 days before each election. Click here to fill out your application online. Or, you can print your registration form here.

You can submit your application:

• Online
• In person at your county voter registration office
• By mail to your county voter registration office

Automatic Voter Registration:

Starting September 19, 2024, you'll automatically be registered to vote when obtaining a new or renewed driver's license or ID card at the DMV. If you prefer not to participate, you can choose to opt-out. 

Time off to vote is subject to the employer, there is no requirement for employers to grant time off to vote for employees.

To verify your voter registration status

All registered voters can request a no-excuse mail-in ballot. You do not have to provide a reason for why you want to vote-by-mail; this means you can just request a mail-in ballot and do not need to request an absentee ballot regardless of the reason for voting by mail. You can apply online, by paper form (available in English and Spanish), in person at your County Election Office, or by sending a signed letter to the office. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is 7 days before the election, and completed ballots must be received by 8:00 pm Election Day to be counted. Voters are advised to closely follow the instructions on their mail-in ballots.

You can track your mail ballot on your Department of State’s website. Mail ballots are counted starting on Election Day.

The voting systems used in Pennsylvania are optical scan, DRE, and paper ballots.

Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes.

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE): All the information about who and what you are voting for is on an electronic screen like a TV or computer screen.

There are many variations of DREs because lots of companies are inventing new ones, and many cities, counties and states are trying them out. Usually, after you have signed in, the poll workers will give you a card that you slide into a device to start your voting session.

Some of these devices will show all of the candidates and ballot choices on one big screen. Often, with these big screen devices you push a button next to the name of the candidate you want to vote for (or yes or no on a ballot measure). On other DREs, the screen is set up to show pages. On each screen or page, there will probably be one thing to vote on. For example, on one screen or page, you might vote for president. Then you might move to the next page to vote for senator. Often these small-screen devices have a touch screen where you touch the screen next to the name of the person you want to vote for. Other devices have a key pad. And some have a keyboard, so you can write in the name of someone you want to vote for.

You let the system know you are finished voting by pushing a button, touching the screen or entering something on a keypad.

Paper Ballots: Paper ballots are one of the oldest ways of voting in America. They are still used in a few places on Election Day. When you come to the polling place, you will get a paper ballot from the poll worker. You take it to the voting booth, and use a pen or pencil to mark a box next to your candidate and issue choices. You then drop the marked ballot into a sealed ballot box.