Voter registration and mail ballot deadlines are coming up

The future of the state Supreme Court Philadelphia s District Attorney race and other significant contests will be decided in the upcoming general electoral contest on Nov That means it s time for voters to make sure they re registered request a mail ballot if they want one and fix any attainable problems with their mail ballot that could prevent their vote from being counted We ve rounded up various key upcoming deadlines and guidance on how to vote depending on your situation We also have a searchable list of people with flawed mail ballots where you can plug in the names of your friends and neighbors to see if they need to get in touch with the Board of Elections We re still putting the final touches on our Procrastinator s Guide to the candidates so stay tuned for that to come out later this month Registration cut-off coming up The deadline to register to vote in time for the upcoming vote is next Monday Oct Check your registration status by calling the City Commissioners at - or looking it up at the Pa Department of State website You can register online at the state voter services page Or you can register in person at the Board of Elections office in City Hall Room at the Voter Registration Office at N Columbus Blvd at Spring Garden Street or at one of the city s satellite poll offices Those offices are open a m to p m on weekdays and a m to p m on weekends You can also pick up a voter registration application at post offices populace libraries state liquor stores and state regime offices You can call the commissioners and ask them to mail you one or print out the form at home Just make sure to mail it in ASAP given the upcoming deadline For more on how to register including information for people with criminal records check out the City Commissioners registration page Voting by mail or absentee Any registered voter can vote by mail The deadline to apply for a mail ballot is Tuesday Oct at p m You can apply at the City Hall or Columbus Boulevard elections offices or any of the satellite poll offices mentioned above If you go to an electoral process office in person you can apply fill out and return your ballot on the spot in one visit And register first if needed Another option is to fill out an online application to have a ballot mailed to your home An absentee ballot is different from a regular mail ballot and is only for people who will be out of town on Referendum Day or who have an illness or physical disability that prevents them from going to the polls Here are the instructions for applying for an absentee ballot For more information on how to apply for fill out and submit a mail or absentee ballot and deal with various special situations e g if you change your mind at the last minute and decide to vote in person instead check out our comprehensive explainer from last year or the City Commissioners guide Meet that deadline The Board of Elections must receive your completed ballot by p m on Electoral contest Day Nov or it won t count So make sure to mail it in at least several days before then or deposit it in an official drop box Here s a map of the drop boxes Note that people who vote by mail are required to write the date that they filled out the ballot in a designated space on the back of the ballot envelope If they don t their ballot could be thrown out without being counted That requirement has been the subject of years of litigation A federal court in August ruled that the requirement is unconstitutional and the state Supreme court heard arguments on the issue in September For now however voters are still requested to write the date on the envelope If you re planning to kick it old school and vote in person on Balloting Day here s a ton of useful info from the City Commissioners including sample ballots listing candidates and a searchable map of polling places Fix those flawed ballots Every ballot particular would-be mail voters end up not having their vote counted because of a matter with the delivery or filling-out of their ballot As of mid-October the commissioners latest list included nearly voters who need to fix ballot problems The issues include No signature on the exterior envelope No date on the exterior envelope Incorrect date on the envelope No secrecy envelope aka a naked ballot Undeliverable possibly due to a wrong address Unverifiable identification You can check out the searchable list at the bottom of this page to see if you need to fix your ballot Specific of the Philadelphia voters on the list are marked as having unverifiable identification They should fill out an ID verification form and submit it along with a picture or photocopy of an acceptable ID if available to phillyelection phila gov or via fax to - They can also call - Those are due by Monday Nov The other voters on the list made errors when completing their ballots or their ballots were never delivered to them because the addresses were wrong or there was a matter at the post office They can get a replacement ballot at any of the city s electoral process offices or by filling out an online form Replacements can be filled out and submitted on the spot or deposited in a drop box The Board of Elections has more detailed information on fixing flawed ballots The list below was current as of Oct Visit the Board of Elections page for updated versions const iframe document getElementById newspack-iframe- naEOxRc ccg const timerId setInterval function iframe src iframe src iframe onload function clearInterval timerId Add a listener for dynamic resizing if the iframe supports it window addEventListener message function event Reject messages from untrusted origins if event origin new URL iframe src origin iframe contentWindow event source return var iframeHeight if event records event input height if typeof event statistics height number iframeHeight event statistics height else if typeof event records height string iframeHeight Number event input height if isNaN iframeHeight iframeHeight Remove height from the iframe's parent element if needed if iframe parentElement iframe parentElement style height auto iframe parentElement style height auto Set the new height dynamically iframe style height iframeHeight px This story is a part of Every Voice Every Vote a collaborative project managed by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism The William Penn Foundation provides lead aid for Every Voice Every Vote in and with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Comcast NBC Universal The John S and James L Knight Foundation Henry L Kimelman Family Foundation Judy and Peter Leone Arctos Foundation Wyncote Foundation th Century Foundation and Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation To learn more about the project and view a full list of supporters visit www everyvoice-everyvote org Editorial content is created independently of the project s donors The post Voter registration and mail ballot deadlines are coming up appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY