How elections work in
Pennsylvania
Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians work tirelessly to make sure your ballot can safely and securely become a vote.
Learn more about what goes into every step of this process.
1
WHO RUNS PENNSYLVANIA ELECTIONS?
Elections in Pennsylvania are run locally, with state oversight. All told, more than 45,000 election workers and officials ensure Pennsylvania’s elections are safe, secure, and accurate.
These public servants are Republicans, Democrats, and independents who live in your community. They are also your neighbors, and across the state they include supporters of every candidate on the ballot. They put aside partisan preferences and work together to ensure that each election runs smoothly, and that each and every vote is secure and counted accurately.
2
WHO CAN VOTE?
In order to legally vote in elections in Pennsylvania, you must:
- Be a U.S. citizen;
- Be 18 years or older by Election Day;
- Be a Pennsylvania resident;
- Not be confined in a prison, jail, or other penal institution serving a sentence for conviction of a felony as of the date of the election and will not be released before the next election; and
- Not have been convicted of a violation of a provision of the Pennsylvania Election Code within the last four years.
Election officials in each county regularly perform a rigorous review of the voter registration rolls, and eliminate people who do not meet the qualifications.
To register and vote in any election district in Pennsylvania, you must have resided there for at least 30 days prior to voting. (Note: If you moved within 30 days of a presidential election, both federal and state law allow you to vote for President in your previous place of residence if you haven’t already registered at your new address). Pennsylvanians must also be registered to vote at least 15 days before the election to qualify.
Get more information on where, when, and how to vote in Pennsylvania elections here.
Like all states, Pennsylvania’s counties routinely remove deceased voters from the voter rolls using information from multiple official sources, including the Department of Health death records and Social Security Administration records.
Both state and federal law declares that non-citizens, whether they are in the U.S. legally or illegally, are not eligible to vote. County election officials use Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) data to check Social Security numbers provided by applicants on voter registration applications. HAVV data helps state and county agencies to identify citizens and noncitizens with the Social Security Administration.
Primaries: In Pennsylvania, you can only vote in a political party’s primary if you are a registered voter of that party. Registered Democrats may only vote in the Democratic primary, and registered Republicans may only vote in the Republican primary. If you are registered as an independent, you may not vote in the primary of either major political party. Registered independents may vote in primary elections if the ballot includes a constitutional amendment question, a ballot question, or a special election – just not for party nominees.
General elections: In elections that are not party primaries, like the general election in November, voters can vote for candidates in any political party. For example, in the 2024 general election, if you are registered as an independent, you can vote for candidates from any party.
Note that elections can be held at the local, county, Commonwealth, and federal levels and can take place at different times of the year. A complete calendar of Pennsylvania elections can be found here.
3
HOW DOES PENNSYLVANIA PREPARE FOR ELECTIONS?
In the months leading up to Election Day, Pennsylvania’s election officials hire and train thousands of local election workers, prepare polling places, and routinely test voting machines to make sure they work properly.
Local officials also determine locations for polling places and secure drop boxes, as well as the hours and days those will be available for voting before Election Day. On Election Day in Pennsylvania, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are more than 9,000 polling places spread across the Commonwealth’s 67 counties.
Before each election, county election officials physically inspect, test, and seal each voting machine to make sure it is secure. Much of this testing process is open to the public, and if you want to attend you can contact your county election officials for more information.
4
HOW DO YOU GET & CAST A BALLOT?
Pennsylvania requires a paper record for every vote cast, so that there is a verifiable source for each and every vote that is cast and counted.
There are three ways to vote in Pennsylvania:
Mail-In Ballot
Absentee Ballot
Voters can apply for an absentee ballot if they are going to be out of town on Election Day or have a disability or illness that prevents them from going to their polling place.
The process is similar to requesting a mail-in ballot. It runs in parallel to that program, and requires the voter to be out of town on Election Day, or have a disability or injury.
In-Person Ballot
This is the ballot you receive at your designated polling place on Election Day.
Once you decide how you want to vote, it’s time to submit your ballot! You can do that…
By Mail
If you have applied for and received a mail-in or absentee ballot, you may return it by mail. All ballots submitted by mail must be received by your local board of elections on or before 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
Via Secure Drop Box
Secure ballot return sites or “drop boxes” are available in some counties in Pennsylvania.
All ballot drop boxes must be clearly labeled, securely locked, and in public, well-lit areas with good visibility. They are often monitored by staff, or by video. Only workers authorized by county officials collect ballots from secure drop boxes.
Ballots must be submitted in a drop box before the polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Check with your local county election board for drop box locations and hours of operation.
In-Person
5
HOW ARE BALLOTS KEPT SECURE?
Pennsylvania uses approved, certified voting machines that are routinely tested and maintained to ensure they provide accurate results. These machines are not connected to the internet.
All ballots in Pennsylvania are subject to strict chain of custody requirements, which means non-partisan election officials are legally required to monitor and track every ballot through each stage of the process. This includes ballots that arrive by mail, as well as those placed in secure drop boxes or cast in person.
Mail ballots are secure because they are tracked through the collection and counting process. Mail ballot drop boxes are secure because they are locked and only accessible to authorized election officials.
Some form of voting by mail has been used in Pennsylvania since before the Civil War, and it has a long history of being safe and secure. In 2019, the Republican-led Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 77, which gave all registered voters the right to cast their vote using a mail-in ballot.
6
HOW DO I KNOW VOTES ARE COUNTED ACCURATELY?
Vote counting is overseen by non-partisan election workers (also called “election officers”) in your county. Additionally, poll watchers from all political parties that appear on the ballot can observe ballot processing and tabulation.
Ballot tabulation machines are used to count ballots and tabulate the final results. Under Pennsylvania laws, absentee and mail-in ballots cannot be processed or tabulated before Election Day, which means election results are often not finalized for several days after the election.
Results announced on election night reflect only a partial tally of all votes cast and are not official results. Likewise, media projections or exit polls about election outcomes are not official. Only the final, verified and state-certified results of Pennsylvania elections are official.
All votes in Pennsylvania have a paper record, which means that results can be confirmed after the fact by state and local officials, and each ballot can be examined if needed.
After every primary and general election, as required by state law, county election boards conduct two specific kinds of post-election audits to verify that the election results were accurately counted.
Vote counting timelines in PA vary from most other states.
In our decentralized system, every state sets its own processes for running elections. So every state has slightly different rules for when mail or absentee ballots must be received and when they can be processed or counted. Pennsylvania’s election laws and processes mean that it’s unlikely we will know the results of the 2024 election on election night, especially in a close race.
Why? Pennsylvania is different from most states because state law does not permit pre-processing of mail-in and absentee ballots. That means election workers in Pennsylvania may not process ballots until 7 AM on Election Day. Once they start, each mail-in or absentee ballot can take several minutes to process. There are millions of mail ballots set to be cast in this election, and it will take considerable time to count them all.
In 2020, 2.6 million votes were cast by mail. It took nearly four days after the election for counties to complete the vote counting process before a presidential winner for the state could be declared.
What is pre-processing?
Pre-processing allows election workers to remove mail-in and absentee ballots from their envelopes and confirm the ballot is eligible to be counted before Election Day. Pre-processing significantly reduces the time it takes to tabulate and finalize the vote count. In 2024, the Pennsylvania State Assembly voted not to allow pre-processing of mail-in and absentee in the state for the 2024 presidential election.
7
HOW ARE RESULTS VERIFIED?
On Election Day, each precinct delivers its results to county officials, who are responsible for tallying, checking, and certifying the results.
Beginning on Election Day, these county election officials “canvass” these results, which means that they double and triple-check the records from each precinct, hear any legal challenges to absentee and mail-in ballots, review the overall conduct of the election, and then count all the votes. In addition, these officials are required by law to perform a post-election “audit,” randomly recounting 2,000 or 2% of all ballots, whichever is fewer, to confirm the accuracy of the tally.
County elections boards must submit preliminary, unofficial results to the Department of State by 5 p.m. on the Tuesday after Election Day and then submit final, certified results to the Secretary of the Commonwealth shortly thereafter.
If any recounts are needed, the county election boards must conduct the recounts and then certify the results no later than the third Monday following the election.
By law, there is an automatic recount in Pennsylvania if the difference in votes between the top two candidates statewide or a ballot measure is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast. Election officials supervise any recounts.
In limited circumstances where a candidate has a good-faith belief that their election was affected by error that changed the result, a recount may also be ordered.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
You may still have questions about how elections work in Pennsylvania!
Here are some of the most common:
There are a variety of trusted and reliable sources of information about Pennsylvania elections, voting, and results.
The Pennsylvania Department of State’s website has up-to-date information on how to vote, information on election security, and a helpful Elections FAQ page. They also have an election results website which provides rolling updates of results that may change over time as more results come in.
Your county election board is also a great place to turn with any questions. Many county election boards maintain up-to-date websites and social media accounts to keep voters informed. You can also call them with specific questions. To find your county election board, click here.
Vote 411 is a non-partisan resource that provides up-to-date links and information about when, where, and how to vote in Pennsylvania.
Trusted local news sources like your local or regional newspaper, radio, or TV station can have up-to-date information about what’s going on with elections near you.
In this day and age, this is, unfortunately, an important question.
False information about voting and elections can easily spread online and on social media, so it’s always good to take a moment to consider the accuracy of any stories or claims you see or hear.
Thankfully, Pennsylvania has created an online database of information specifically designed to dispel some of the most common myths that have circulated about Pennsylvania elections. Your county election board is also a good source (find yours here).
This website provides a lot of easy to read, factual information about every step of the elections process in Pennsylvania – who can vote, how to vote, how votes are counted, and how the process is kept secure.
Before you share or act on something you’ve read online or heard, make sure the source is credible, verified, and has been backed up or supported by additional trusted sources.
There are clues and tools to help you hone your sense of whether what you’re reading online can be trusted.
In March 2024, Pennsylvania’s Republican Secretary of the Commonwealth said, “elections in Pennsylvania have never been more fair, never been more safe, and never been more secure.”
Fraud in elections is extremely rare. Claims that there was significant fraud in the 2020 election have been repeatedly investigated, dismissed by the courts, and debunked or disproven. No evidence has been found to support those claims.
Here is a story of a Republican in Chester County who became an election volunteer after the 2020 election because he was concerned about fraud. “Working the polls cleared up Jay Schneider’s 2020 suspicions. Now he’s taking charge as a judge of elections.”
Donald Trump’s attorney general, Bill Barr, as well as Trump’s Department of Justice investigated and found no evidence of widespread fraud in the election. No claims of substantial election fraud have survived legal scrutiny. Many claims were dismissed as meritless by Trump-appointed judges, including appellate court Judge Stephanos Bibas, who stated “charges require specific allegations and then proof.” He went on to add, “We have neither here,” in response to the Trump campaign’s attempt to block Biden from being declared the winner of Pennsylvania in 2020.
Groups that alleged there were improprieties in the 2020 election have subsequently issued statements saying no evidence exists to support this. Even experts hired by the Trump campaign to identify instances of voter fraud in the 2020 election did not find irregularities that would have changed the results.
Incorrect information about elections can spread quickly. You might see false information on social media or in a text message or get it through a phone call.
If you see false information about where, when, or how to vote (or register to vote), it is a good idea to alert trusted officials directly.
Intentionally deceiving qualified voters to prevent them from voting is a crime. If you see clearly false information, you can report it to:
- your county elections board; and or
- the Pennsylvania Department of State;
Pennsylvania elections are run by paid election workers and volunteers in our communities along with trusted elections officials whose years of expertise ensure that Pennsylvania’s system of elections works – by the people and for the people.
If you are interested in getting involved in the election process, there are several things you can do. They include:
- Register to vote & cast your ballot.
- Apply to be a poll worker in your county.
- Volunteer with your local political party or a candidate to be a poll watcher. Both major political parties appoint poll watchers in every Pennsylvania election.