Pennsylvania
Elections 2018
Primary Election Date: May 15, 2018
Voter Registration Deadline: April 16, 2018
General Election Date: November 6, 2018
Voter Registration Deadline: October 9, 2018
Election Day Information
Polling Place Hours
Election Day voting hours are 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at all polling places statewide.
Polling Place Location
On Election Day, you can only vote at the voting precinct assigned to you. You can find your voting polling place location by using the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Polling Place Information online service. For additional information and/or to confirm polling place locations please contact your County Elections Office.
Sample Ballot
For more information on the content of your sample ballot contact you local County Elections Office
Time Off to Vote
Time off to vote is subject to the employer. Pennsylvania state law does not require employers to grant time off to vote for employees.
Election Types
The state content is currently being developed.
ID Requirements for Voting
You will not be required to present identification at the polls unless you are a first-time Pennsylvania voter.
If you are a first-time Pennsylvania voter, acceptable forms of identification include:
- Pennsylvania driver’s license or PennDOT ID card
- ID issued by any Commonwealth agency
- ID issued by the U.S. Government
- U.S. passport
- U.S. Armed Forces ID
- Student ID
- Employee ID
If you do not have a photo ID, you can use a non-photo identification that includes your name and address. Approved forms of non-photo identification include:
- 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
- Government check
Provisional Voting
- Even though you are properly registered and eligible to vote in the election district, your name does not appear on the district register (poll book) and Election Officials cannot determine your registration status.
- You do not have an approved form of identification when you appear to vote in an election district for the first time (this is required regardless of whether your name appears on the general register).
- An Election Official asserts that you are not eligible to vote. (In a primary election, this includes voters who claim to be registered for a particular political party, but the district register indicates they are registered as a member of another political party.)
Voter Registration & Verification
Eligibility to Register to Vote
To register to vote, you must:
- A citizen of the United States for at least one month before the next primary, special, municipal or general election
- A resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which you register and vote for at least 30 days before the general, primary, municipal, special or general election
- At least 18 years of age on or before the day of the next primary, special, municipal, or general election.
Registering to Vote
Online: You can register to vote through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Online Voter Registration Application. In order to use this service, you must have a valid Pennsylvania driver's license or identification card.
In-Person: You can register to vote at any County Voter Registration Office or at any of the following government agencies:
• State offices that provide public assistance and services to persons with disabilities
• Armed Forces Recruitment Centers
• County Clerk of Orphans' Court offices, including each Marriage License Bureau
• Area Agencies on Aging
• Centers for Independent Living
• County Mental Health and Mental Retardation offices
• Student disability services offices of the State System of Higher Education
• Offices of Special Education
• DA Complementary Paratransit offices
By-Mail: You can download a Voter Registration Application, print, complete, sign, and deliver to your County Voter Registration Office by mail or in person. You can also obtain a Voter Registration Application at any PA Department of Transportation Office.
ID Requirements for Voter Registration
If you have a Pennsylvania driver's license, you must provide your driver's license number on your registration form. If you do not have a Pennsylvania 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.
Verify Registration
You may look up your voter registration status using the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Voter Registration Status Service. You may also contact your County Elections Office to find and/or confirm your registration status.
Early Voting & Absentee Voting
Early Voting
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not provide an Early Voting option.
Absentee Voting
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania allows you to vote by mail/cast an absentee ballot only if you will be:
- A person who is in the military service of the United States
- A spouse or dependent residing with or accompanying a person in the military service of the United States who expects to be absent on Election Day
- A member of the Merchant Marine and your spouse and dependents residing with you expect to be absent on Election Day
- A member of a religious or welfare group attached to and serving with the armed forces and your spouse and dependents living with or accompanying you expect to be absent on Election Day
- An individual who, because of the elector's duties, occupation or business expects to be absent on Election Day
- A qualified war veteran elector who is bedridden or hospitalized due to illness or physical disability and will be absent on Election Day
- A person who, because of illness or physical disability, is unable to attend your polling place or to operate a voting machine with assistance by distinct and audible statements
- A spouse or dependent accompanying a person employed by the Commonwealth or the federal government, in the event that the employee's duties, occupation or business on Election Day require you to be absent
- A county employee who expects that your Election Day duties relating to the conduct of the election will prevent the employee from voting
- A person who will not attend a polling place on Election Day because of the observance of a religious holiday
If you wish to cast an absentee ballot, you have until 5:00 p.m. the Tuesday before an election to request an absentee ballot. Please note, that you will be required to present a valid form of identification in order to receive an absentee ballot. See ID Requirements for Voting section above.
To access an Absentee Ballot request you can visit a County Elections Office or download an Absentee Ballot Application and send it to your County Elections Office. Your ballot must be returned by mail or in-person by the close of polls on Election Day.
Multilingual Services
Certain jurisdictions have a legal obligation to provide language assistance to voters that rely on languages other than English. Those jurisdictions are determined based on the communities/municipalities in the 2010 census which had over 10,000 residents which relied on a single minority language and did not speak or read English very well.
For a complete list of counties required to provide oral assistance and bilingual election materials in the following language click here.
If you are a voter that needs assistance in a language other than English, you may receive assistance from anyone of your choice with the exception of your employer, an agency of your employer and/or an official of your union. You may also receive assistance at the polling place from two poll workers from opposite political parties.
For additional information on minority language assistance click here
Voters with Special Needs
Military and Overseas Voting
Eligibility for military/overseas absentee voting
To be eligible for military/overseas absentee voting you must be:
- A member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard;
- A member of the Merchant Marine, Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, or the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States;
- A member of the National Guard on activated status.
Requesting an absentee ballot
If you are a military/overseas voter you should fill out and file your FPCA (Federal Postcard Application) as soon as possible but no later than the 11th day before election. The Federal Postcard Application is available to:
- active duty military, spouses, and dependents (voting from outside the home Pennsylvania county)
- U. S. Citizens (nonmilitary) temporarily overseas away from the home Pennsylvania county
- U. S. Citizens (nonmilitary) permanently overseas away from the (previous) home Pennsylvania county
Your ballot must be received by 5:00 p.m. 7 days after Election Day.
Additional military/overseas absentee voting information
For further information you may visit the Federal Voting Assistance Program site for Pennsylvania by clicking here or by contacting the Overseas Voting Foundation by clicking here or dialing +1(202) 470-2480
Pennsylvania Department of State
Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation
210 North Office Building, 401 North Street
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Phone: (717) 787-5280
Fax: (717) 705-0721
For county list and contact information click here.
Contact a NALEO Educational Fund VE-Y-VOTA hotline representative at 888-839-8682 if you need assistance on or prior to Election Day.