Pennsylvania’s deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Tuesday

With the deadline to request a mail-in ballot 5 p.m. on Tuesday, elections officials recommend acting as soon as possible. Voters can request a ballot at their county elections office or online through the Department of State.

Time is running out for Pennsylvanians to request a mail ballot and submit it to vote in the Nov. 5 general election.

With the deadline to request a ballot 5 p.m. on Tuesday, elections officials recommend acting as soon as possible. Voters can request a ballot at their county elections office or online through the Department of State.

To get notifications when the ballot is sent out and then accepted on return, include an email address when requesting a mail-in ballot.

Mail voters need to ensure their ballots are in their county’s possession by 8 p.m. on Election Day. This can be done by mailing it or by delivering it in person to the county elections office.

Mail ballots can also be tracked using an online form that requires a voter’s first name, last name, date of birth and county.

As of 7 a.m. Monday, 1.985 million Pennsylvanians had applied for mail-in ballots, according to the Department of State. Nearly 1.3 million of those ballots have already been returned, with Democrats voting by mail ballot outnumbering Republicans nearly two to one so far. 

Counties have different policies for notifying voters of errors on return envelopes. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled that any voter who attempted to vote by mail but had the ballot rejected can then vote provisionally on Election Day.

Anne Norton, director of election services in Berks County, said the postal service has been good recently, both with getting ballots out to voters and returning them to the office after they’ve been filled out.

“It’s been just taking a couple days,” Norton said. “The turnaround has been really fast. The post office is doing a great job of getting those ballots back to us.”

The closer it gets to Election Day, the more mail-in voters should consider other options to make sure their vote is counted, such as hand-delivering the ballot to a drop box or the county election office.

Each county sets its own rules for drop boxes. In Berks County, Norton said there are three available. Their locations and addresses are available online.

Multiple drop boxes are available throughout Philadelphia. Drop boxes are also available in Bucks, Montgomery, Luzerne, and Delaware counties. You can check here to see if your county has drop boxes available.

Voters using a drop box or delivering the ballot in person to the office need to return their own ballot, with limited exceptions.

Voters with disabilities can designate another person to deliver their ballot. To do so, they must complete and return a designated agent form.

Keystone senior community editor Patrick Berkery contributed to this report.

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