How does absentee voting work

The Department of State is committed to increasing accessibility for voters with disabilities. Pennsylvania voters with disabilities now have the opportunity to mark their absentee or mail-in ballot electronically. Learn more about the accessible remote ballot marking solution. Below are general steps on how to vote, prepare, and return your mail ballot. Be sure to follow the instructions included with your ballot.

Contact your county election office if you have any questions. Under Pennsylvania law, voters must return their own ballots. The only exceptions to this are for voters with a disability who have designated someone in writing to deliver their ballot.

Voters may return their voted mail-in or absentee ballot to their county election board of election office during that office's business hours, or another officially designated location. Ballots must be received by your county election board before 8 pm on Election Day. As soon as ballots are ready , you can request, receive, vote and cast your mail-in or absentee ballot all in one visit to your county election board or other officially designated site.

With this option, there is no need for mail at all, and you can cast your vote at your convenience. Learn more about voting early in-person by mail-in or absentee ballot. In order to apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot, you must supply proof of identification. All other voters must use one of the following options. If you don't have one of the documents listed under option 1, you can include the last 4 digits of your Social Security number on your absentee or mail-in ballot form.

If you don't have one of the documents listed under option 1 or a Social Security number, you can provide a photocopy of one of the following IDs with your absentee or mail-in ballot application.

The photocopy must show name, a photo, and an expiration date that is current. Under current Pennsylvania law, your mail-in ballot can't be opened until Election Day. Therefore, if there's a problem with your mail-in ballot, you won't have the opportunity to correct it before the election. Still, as long as you followed all the instructions and mailed your completed, signed, dated, and sealed in the inner secrecy envelope, ballot by Election Day, you don't have to worry.

The smaller secrecy envelope is intended to protect the anonymity of your vote. After you fill out your ballot, you must place it in the secrecy envelope and seal it. Do not make any marks on this envelope. If you fail to place and seal your ballot in this envelope or if you make marks on this envelope, your ballot will not be counted. The second, larger envelope is the mailing and declaration envelope.

You must use it, even if you are dropping your ballot off at a drop box. Place your secrecy envelope with your ballot inside into the mailing and declaration envelope. You must seal it and sign and date the declaration before you can return your ballot.

Find more Election FAQs. In emergency situations such as an unexpected illness, disability or last-minute absence from your municipality , you can request an Emergency Absentee Ballot after 5 pm on the Tuesday before the election.

Sign up to receive emails about mail ballot deadlines, voting processes, new voting system, and more sent directly to your inbox. Early voting usually takes place up to 45 days before Election Day. In this case, voters are not required to provide a reason for voting early. This type of voting usually means sending a vote-by-mail ballot before Election Day.

While it is a kind of early voting, some states will ask you for a valid excuse, such as a disability, lack of transportation and work schedules. Currently, 21 states and U. However, many others do not. In Arizona, for instance, any registered voter has the option of submitting a mail-in ballot.

However, in states like New York, Louisiana and Delaware, voters must meet specific requirements to qualify. The first step in seeing if you qualify for an absentee ballot is learning about the election laws in your state. Some states allow eligible voters to join a permanent absentee ballot list. The steps to submit an absentee ballot in depend on your state. Typically, you need to ask for an absentee ballot at your local election office.

Depending on the state, you may need to do so online, in person or by phone. Fire Marshal. Human Resources. Information Technology Services. Physical Services. Tax Collection. Town Clerk. Safeguards like the bar code also make it difficult for anyone to print fraudulent ballots without detection. When officials find problems with voter information, signatures or other details, they contact the voter to account for the issue.

If necessary, they send the ballots to prosecutors to investigate. Voting by mail in the United States dates at least to the middle of the 19th century, when another national crisis prevented voters from casting their ballots at home. Fortier, an author of a book on absentee voting. After the election of , however, voting by mail diminished as another concern took priority: protections against the power of party machines and their allies. Over the decades, states enacted measures that ended longstanding practices — like voting by putting a colored ballot in a glass jar — and created a new, more private system.

Their aim, Mr. Fortier said, was to protect voters from the pressure of outside forces like party bosses, employers, unions or neighbors. People are out, traveling for work, building these railroads out West.