Every voter in Pennsylvania can cast a mail ballot if they want. Here’s how.

• By Katie Knol for WITF

As the Nov. 5 presidential election approaches, so do multiple deadlines for Pennsylvanians looking to submit a ballot through the mail.

The state allows any registered voter to cast a ballot by mail without providing a reason. The deadline to register is Oct. 21. 

Registered voters must apply to vote by mail. This can be done online, by mailing the application to the election’s office, or by going there in person. 

After submitting an application and receiving the ballot, voters should follow the provided instructions and mark their ballots. 

Seal the ballot in the yellow envelope marked “official election ballot,” which should then be sealed in the pre-addressed outer return envelope. The outer envelope needs to be signed and dated with the day the form is completed, or it will not be counted, according to the state’s voter website. Methods for handling and counting ballots can vary by county. 

Greg Monskie, chief operations officer and chief clerk for York County, said employees there start opening the ballots at 7 a.m. on Election Day to prepare them for counting. The state does not allow them to be scanned and tabulated before 8 p.m. 

Mail ballots must be in the county’s possession by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5. 

Related: Mail-in voting for military and overseas citizens.

Monskie said there are a few ways to make sure a ballot is counted if there isn’t enough time to mail it. 

“You can bring it to our elections office, you can bring it to the counter and hand it directly to election staff there,” he said. “We will be putting out essentially a curbside pickup, so you can drive right up, hand it to an elections staff, and it will go right in the box.” 

Each county sets its own rules for drop boxes, but people can always personally deliver their mail ballots to their county’s elections office. 

Voters can also choose to cancel their mail-in ballot by bringing it to the elections office or to the polls. The ballot will be voided, and voters can then vote in person.

How to vote by mail

• Register to vote. 
• Request a mail-in ballot by 5 p.m. on Oct. 29. Do this at your county elections office or online through the Department of State. 
• Fill out the ballot, which counties typically start mailing out in early October.
• The ballot has to be received – not just mailed – by the county elections office by 8 p.m. on Election Day. The earlier you request, fill out and return the ballot, the better. 
• Once a county’s ballots are ready, a voter also has the option to go to their county’s elections office, request a mail-in ballot, vote it on-the-spot, and return it. 
• To get notifications when the ballot is sent out, received and accepted, include an email address when requesting a mail-in ballot. 

What’s the controversy? 

Voting by mail was introduced in Pennsylvania in 2019 with the bipartisan Act 77. There was little-to-no partisan difference in who chose this option before 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some chose to vote by mail to avoid the health risks that could have come with waiting in line at the polls.  

Leading up to and following his loss in 2020, Donald Trump claimed that voting by mail opened up opportunities for fraud and manipulation. Sarah Niebler, an associate professor of political science at Dickinson College, said extensive research shows no evidence of this.

Following the disinformation, a partisan divide grew between Democrats, who were more likely to vote by mail, and Republicans, who were more likely to vote in person.

However, Niebler said this split is expected to decrease as some Republican politicians have changed their messaging.

“Republican political figures other than Donald Trump have come out in support of vote-by-mail and have started to encourage their voters to use it more frequently and to use it more regularly,” she said. “So I think over time, it is possible that we see less of a partisan divide on the usage and acceptance and approval of vote-by-mail than we do right now.” 

She noted not every state sees divides along party lines. Hawaii and Oregon, for instance, have voted exclusively by mail for years.

Important Dates 

• Oct. 21 — Last day to register to vote before the general election.
• Oct. 29 — Last day to apply for a mail-in ballot.
• Nov. 5 — Election Day. The county election office must receive the completed mail ballot by 8 p.m. 

 

This story is part of an explanatory series focused on Pennsylvania elections produced collaboratively by WITF, led by democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie, and The Associated Press.