Pennsylvania

To register to vote, you must:
• Be a U.S. citizen at least one month before the next election
• Be a resident of Pennsylvania and your election district at least 30 days before the election
• Be at least 18 years of age on the day of the next election
• Not have been confined in a penal institution for the conviction of a felony within the past five years

Registration Deadline: 30 days before the election. (Friday, October 3rd) Thirty days before the election is Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008.

State Election Website: http://www.votespa.com/
Secretary of State Website: http://www.dos.state.pa.us/dos/site/default.asp

Officials to Contact 

The Pennsylvania Department of State and county election and voter registration officials oversee elections. The department’s online voter information and resource center, www.votespa.com, has multilingual (eight languages) registration forms, information for voters in varying situations (college student to senior to ex-felons), contacts for county election officials, a polling place locator tool, and voting system demonstrations. 

Voter ID Requirements 

ID is required of all voters, but photo and non-photo ID is accepted. Acceptable photo ID includes a driver’s license, any government ID, student ID, employee ID, or passport. Acceptable non-photo IDs include any state or federal ID, firearm permit, current utility bill, current bank statement, or paycheck.

Voting Machines

Most of the state votes on direct-recording electronic (DRE) systems with no voter-verified paper trail. Several counties use paper ballot optical-scan systems, with DREs or ballot-marking devices for voters with disabilities.

Early Voting 

Early in-person voting is not permitted in Pennsylvania, but a registered voter may vote early by mail if they meet one of several qualifications such as traveling on Election Day, serving in the military, or being disabled.

Common Cause Election Protection Efforts

In 2004, Pennsylvania voters were subject to a range of difficulties. Polling places in Allegheny County around Pittsburgh started the day with just 25 provisional ballots each, meaning that once the supply was (quickly) exhausted, voters whose names had been wrongly excluded from the rolls had no way to vote; four years later, the state still has no minimum requirement for the number of provisional ballots that must be available at each polling place on Election Day. Students were intimidated into believing that voting in Pennsylvania could jeopardize their financial aid status, a falsehood. Many voters who hadn’t voted in 2002 were wrongly marked “inactive” by poll workers and denied the ballot. Pennsylvania also has no law against deceptive practices. During the 2008 primary, Election Protection received reports of a range of inappropriate poll worker behavior—Pennsylvania state law does not require its poll workers to be trained before serving—although a new standard training DVD has been sent out to county administrators and posted online.

Given the range of challenges in Pennsylvania, Common Cause PA is aggressively publicizing the Election Protection hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE) as well as voters’ rights to provisional ballots that count for statewide and national elections—according to state law—even if the ballot was cast at the wrong polling place. Further, we are educating the public about voters' right to demand an emergency paper ballot due to machine malfunction instead of a provisional ballot. Our focus is on op-ed placement and rapid response on broadcast media throughout the state, but with a focus on urban and student-heavy areas outside of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metro areas, including Scranton, Allentown, Reading, Harrisburg, State College, and Erie.  

CC/PA founded the Pennsylvania Voters’ Coalition (PVC) in 2004 with more than 30 groups and are a natural spokesman for protecting the vote. With nearly 10,000 members and supporters across the state and through the PVC, we are recruiting 150 additional poll-watchers and election protection volunteers. Given that poll worker training has been poor in Pennsylvania, we will work to train the poll workers we recruit via conference calls and connect them with online training materials.

Voter registrations are not accepted unless they include a driver’s license number, last four digits of Social Security number, or the applicant indicates that they do not have either of these identifying numbers. If the individual does not have either number the county is to issue the individual a “unique identifier” AKA voter identifi cation number even if they do not have a SS#/DL.

State is in compliance with HAVA. Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE), a centralized list of registered voters, can be accessed by local election administrators.

State law prohibits individuals from collecting voter registration forms in exchange for money.

On election day, challenges may be brought by any voter against another at the polls. 25 PS 3050. Challenged voters may cast an ordinary ballot, but only if they can find another registered voter to “vouch” for their identity in an affidavit.

State law requires that counties “instruct election officers in their duties,” but does not specifically require that each election offi cer be trained before s/he serves. The Department of State has produced a

By law, 3 poll workers are required per precinct. A successful program allows high school students in good standing to serve as poll workers in addition to the 3 minimum.

State election law specifi cally states that students may vote in their university precinct. When identification is required to vote, a student

 Department of State Website

 Department of State Website

Voting Rights Act, Sec. 203

Department of State Website

 Department of State Website