With early voting underway in Pennsylvania, counties are opening additional election offices

Mail ballots are now available in 22 counties, giving Pennsylvania voters the opportunity to cast their vote early through the mail, in person at their county election office, or via drop box if available in their area.

HARRISBURG — Voting has begun in earnest in Pennsylvania, as counties increasingly begin mailing out ballots, offering over-the-counter voting in election offices, and opening other avenues to voting.

In Philadelphia, voters have returned about 15,000 mail-in ballots, said Seth Bluestein, who sits on the city’s three-member election commission. That’s about 10% of the 150,000 ballots that were already mailed, Bluestein said.

Meanwhile, the city has opened seven of 10 planned satellite election offices to operate seven days a week.

Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, began hosting over-the-counter voting in the lobby of the county office building on Monday and said people who applied for mail-in ballots have started receiving them in the mail this week.

Montgomery County, the state’s third-most populous county, has started mailing out ballots and, on Friday, it will open eight satellite election offices where people can register to vote, apply for a mail-in ballot or complete a mail-in ballot on the spot. On Saturday, Montgomery County is planning to launch a mobile voter services van.

In Bucks County, the state’s fourth-most populous county, mail-in ballots began going out this week, and ballot drop boxes will start opening up Monday, a spokesperson said.

In Centre County, the elections board voted to open a satellite election office on Penn State’s campus.

The Department of State lists 22 counties where ballots are available. That includes Union County, where Commissioner Jeff Reber said over-the-counter voting began Monday and mail-in ballots should go into the mail on Friday from the county’s printing vendor.

All told, more than 1.45 million voters have applied for a mail-in ballot ahead of the Nov. 5 election, according to data from the Department of State. Of those applicants, Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than two-to-one.

Nearly 9 million Pennsylvanians have registered to vote, almost the same number as in 2020’s presidential election.

Are you ready to vote? Make sure to check your voter registration status, see who’s on your ballot, and make a voting plan here.

Keystone senior community editor Patrick Berkery contributed to this report.