Make sure your vote gets counted this fall!
- Comfortable going out with a mask? Vote in person on November 3rd!
- Find your polling place.
- Otherwise, vote by mail, or drop off your ballot at one of these locations
- If you received your mail-in ballot but wish to vote in person instead, turn in your ballot AND the envelope with the voter’s declaration at your polling place.
- Want to protect the vote? Work at the Polls (students welcome!)
To vote by mail:
- Apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot online by Tuesday, October 27 (or better yet, ASAP).
- Receive your ballot by mail.
- Complete your ballot using the instructions included with it, making sure to fill in ovals on the ballot to make your selections – no X or check marks! See also: this helpful article.
- Insert your ballot in the privacy envelope, and then the outer envelope (with the declaration printed on it).
- Make sure to complete and SIGN the declaration as directed in the instructions.
- Mail it back ASAP, or better yet (given mail delays) use a drop-box location (see below).
- Check ballot status
- If your ballot has not been received by the county by November 3, you can vote in person on November 3 by either:
- Turning in your ballot AND the envelope with the voter’s declaration at your polling place (preferred); or
- Voting by provisional ballot.
- Concerned about missing a mailing? Sign up for informed delivery with the USPS.
Ballot Drop-Box Locations
Bucks County https://2020-general-election-bucksgis.hub.arcgis.com/pages/drop-box-info
Chester County https://www.chesco.org/4758/Drop-Off-Locations
Delaware County https://delcopa.gov/vote/ballotdropbox.html
Montgomery County https://www.montcopa.org/3587/Ballot-Drop-Box-Locations and Satellite Office locations
Philadelphia Early Voting Details: https://www.phillyearlyvoting.com/; new Drop-Box locations at City Hall and 520 N Columbus Blvd and additional satellite offices
Legal and Civic Context
- Mail ballots can’t be discarded over signature https://apnews.com/fc464c287c18823ff57fedc13facf7e5
- Federal judge in Pennsylvania dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit on voting, calling fraud claims ‘speculative’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pennsylvania-trump-lawsuit-voting/2020/10/10/44c16ba6-0b2c-11eb-859b-f9c27abe638d_story.html
- Pennsylvania top court expands mail-in voting, ballot drop box options https://www.jurist.org/news/2020/09/pennsylvania-top-court-expands-mail-in-voting-ballot-drop-box-options-removes-green-party-from-ballot/
- Protect Our Vote Philly’s (POV’s) letter to the Philadelphia Board of Elections/Commissioners (news release)
Important Changes This Year
- Eliminated straight party voting
- Extended registration and submission deadlines
- Added no excuse mail-in ballot voting
- Mail-In/Absentee ballots will be counted by the county, not local precincts
- Mail-In/Absentee ballot voters must vote provisionally if they show up at the polls on Election Day and poll book does not show a returned ballot.
Current Ways to Cast a Ballot in Pennsylvania
- In person at local precinct, voting on a paper ballot on Election Day
- No excuse mail-in ballot voting
- Absentee ballot voting
- In person at county voter services – counties are now permitted to open satellite voter services offices as well, if they have the resources.
County Links
| PHILADELPHIA COUNTY | (215) 686-3943 |
| CHESTER COUNTY | (610) 344-6410 |
| BUCKS COUNTY | (215) 348-6154 |
| MONTGOMERY COUNTY | (610) 278-3275 |
| DELAWARE COUNTY. | (610) 892-0641 |
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The header image for this site is a photograph by Justin Grimes, licensed under the Creative Commons by-sa license. We use it with gratitude.