HARRISBURG, Pa. — Monday is the last day to register to vote in the 2022 General Election. Officials are asking the public to submit their registration application by the end of the day.
Voters are able to vote by mail, online, or in-person. In-person and online voting is highly recommended for Pennsylvania residents who haven’t registered by the end of the day on Monday.
“If they’re applying via paper, it’s important to know the voter's registration application has to be received by the deadline of Monday the 24, so if you’re doing it by paper and you haven’t mailed it yet and you’re planning to mail it, I wouldn’t recommend that at this point,” said Jonathan M. Marks, Deputy Secretary for Elections and Commissions.
The process of registering to vote is the same for voters who just moved to Pennsylvania. The voter has to be sure they’re registered in Pa. in order to vote in the general election on Nov. 8. Marks said it is not illegal to be registered to vote in two different states, however, it is illegal to vote in two states for the same election.
“Each state has different rules, you’ll have to register to vote here and also take an action to cancel your registration,” Marks explained.
Monday is a hard deadline and there is no leniency for late submissions. Officials are urging people to complete the registration application form ahead of time.
“If you show up at the polls at that point, you’ll have to vote a provisional ballot because your name won’t be on the voter's registration rolls and unless you made an attempt to register and there was some clerical error or something it’s likely that your provisional ballot won’t be counted,” said Marks.
Registration application forms must be received, processed, and approved by 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday in order for voters to vote in the general election. Mail-in voting is an option but not recommended due to the time it takes to process an application. Officials say you can register to vote online at vote.pa.gov.
In addition to registering to vote through the state's online voter registration (OVR) site, Pennsylvanians can also use the OVR system to update their existing voter record with new information, such as a change of name or address.
In order to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election residents must be:
A U.S. citizen for at least one month before the election.
A resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which the person wants to register and vote for at least 30 days before the election.
At least 18 years of age on or before the date of the election.