In today’s world lots of people travel for work, to visit family, go on vacation, or see a professional specialist; others are serving in the military. If your travel coincides with the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, election day (this year Novmber 7th), you can still vote by absentee ballot. However, in Pennsylvania, you must first apply to vote by absentee ballot.
What does that mean?
What this means is that you are required to state officially why you can not make it to the polls on election day. But, don’t worry, the list of acceptable reasons is pretty long. You must declare if you will be away from your municipality or if you are suffering an illness. Absentee ballots have been cast millions of times so don’t worry; if you will legitimately not be able to make it to the polling place your reason is probably OK.
How to apply?
You can download and print the Absentee Ballot Application from the State. The application can be filled out by hand, legibly, or on your computer. Once you have this application filled out you will need to mail or deliver it to your county elections office. To avoid a delay be sure to send this to the county where you are registered to vote. If you aren’t sure where you are registered you can double-check online. For the smoothest process your application should be in the mail by October 21st; the final day to apply is October 31st.
What happens then?
Once your application is processed you will receive your absentee ballot. You can then vote by filling out your ballot and returning it to your county elections office. You can either mail or drop off your absentee ballot but it must be received by November 3rd.
After those steps are done… congratulations! You voted!
A few helpful links:
Information for Snyder County
Where to mail for SnyCo:
Office of Voter Registration
Snyder County Courthouse
PO Box 217
Middleburg, PA 17842
SnyCo Elections Office Phone – (570) 837-4286