When Act 77 became law in October 2019, changes were made to the Pennsylvania election system for the first time in 80 years. Registered voters across the Commonwealth will start seeing these changes in the weeks leading up to the April Primary. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar says these changes will make it easier for everyone to cast their ballot.

“I can’t speak more highly about the good change that is coming for the voters of Pennsylvania,” Boockvar says.

One of the biggest changes voters can take advantage of is no-excuse mail-in voting. For the first time, voters who wish to cast their ballot by mail do not need a reason to do so. The county must receive your application for a mail-in ballot by 5:00 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election. You can also be placed on a permanent mail-in ballot voting list. If you are on the list, your County Election office will send you a mail-in ballot application at the beginning of February each year. If you complete and return the application, you’ll be able to mail in your ballot for each election that year.

Secretary Boockvar says the Department of State has already received thousands of mail-in ballot and absentee ballot applications.

“There have already been a total of approximately just over 25,000 absentee and mail-in applications that have been received, and I’m happy to say almost 18,000 of those came online,” Secretary Boockvar explains.

You can learn more about voting by mail, and you can find an application to for a mail-in ballot by clicking here: https://www.votespa.com/Voting-in-PA/Pages/Mail-and-Absentee-Ballot.aspx

Additionally, voters can now utilize in-person, mail-in voting once the ballot is finalized.

“You could walk into your election office 3-4 weeks before election day, take care of the application for your vote by mail, and the actual voting, all in one day before election day,” says Boockvar.

This is different than early voting. With early voting, voters walk into a polling place and vote on machines. With in-person, mail-in voting, voters fill out an application to vote by mail, and if approved, will complete a mail-in ballot. Instead of sending it in the mail though, the ballot would just be handed in to the County Election Board.

The voter registration deadline has been changed from 30 to 15 days before an election. Secretary Boockvar says this gives unregistered voters more access and time to register. 

The legislature eliminated straight-party ticket voting, so voters will have to choose each candidate rather than checking one box to vote for all Republicans or all Democrats. You can still do that, but you must check a candidate box in each race.

Voters will also be casting their ballot on new and improved voting machines. Each of the state’s 67 counties has upgraded their voting machines and will be in use when primary election day arrives.

“These are state-of-the-art voting systems that have been subject to the highest level of security testing, accessibility testing,” Boockvar explains.

Voters aren’t the only ones dealing with change. The Department of State and County Election offices are impacted as well. But Secretary Boockvar has confidence in everyone involved.

“I give a lot of kudos to the County election offices. There’s a lot of changes, but they are tremendously dedicated, so we’ve been working really hard, and it’s going to continue up until the very last vote is cast,” says Boockvar.

The Department of State also wants voters to be prepared and educated on how to use their county’s new voting machine. That’s why the Department has launched 67 webpages that provide county-specific information on these new voting systems. You can find info for your county by clicking on this link: https://www.votespa.com/readytovote/Pages/default.aspx#inperson.

The Pennsylvania Primary is on Tuesday, April 28th.