In this Oct. 13, 2020, photo, an envelope of a Pennsylvania official mail-in ballot for the 2020 general election in Marple Township, Pa.
Matt Slocum / AP Photo
Pennsylvania Secretary of State encourages in-person early voting
You have only through Tuesday, October 27 to vote in person at your county elections office, or a satellite office. Check locations and hours on your county’s website or votespa.com.
By Kristine Allen/WPSU
Matt Slocum / AP Photo
In this Oct. 13, 2020, photo, an envelope of a Pennsylvania official mail-in ballot for the 2020 general election in Marple Township, Pa.
Be patient: Results of the Nov. 3 election in Pennsylvania, and across the country, likely won’t be known for days. Here’s how WITF’s newsroom will cover election night and beyond.
(State College) — As usual, Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state in the 2020 election. And now, for the first time ever in a presidential election year, mail-in ballots are available to all registered voters in Pennsylvania, without any excuse. That means there is now actually a way for you to vote early in person.
Your polling place in won’t be open until November 3rd. But between now and Tuesday, there is a place you can go to vote early.
At a news conference Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State, Kathy Boockvar explained that you can apply for and fill-out a mail-in ballot all at once.
“Going in person to your county election office; handing in your application; being checked for eligibility; being handed your ballot; filling it out there; casting it all in one visit,” she said. “Next Tuesday is hte last day for that. So we’re urging voters to act now.”
Boockvar said that’s how she and 50,000 other Pennsylvanians have already voted.
Some counties have also set up satellite offices. Centre County commissioner Michael Pipe says that county has a satellite election office in gate A of Bryce Jordan Center on the Penn State Campus.
“We have about six stations where the voters can get the over-the-counter ballots, give their applications over, have our staff process them, and then give them their ballots.”
He also says the county will require masking and social distancing at the site, to keep voters safe.
You have only through Tuesday, October 27 to vote in person at your county elections office, or a satellite office. Check locations and hours on your county’s website or votespa.com.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
