Between now and Oct. 5, Pennsylvanians can register online to vote
By early afternoon Thursday, the Washington County Elections Office received six online registrations from voters, but two were lacking necessary signatures.
Those six registrations – some new and another, a change of information, arrived just hours after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Pedro Cortés announced the online option.
“The state’s going to try to take corrective action with the voters themselves,” said Larry Spahr, Washington County elections director. “They’re doing it now to move the process along. We only have four people here.”
Notifications for that all-important signature, also required when a person votes in person or by absentee ballot, are computer-generated.
“We mail them a signature card,” said Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State. “It’s generated automatically by our system. It needs to be signed and returned to the county elections office.”
In the past, Pennsylvanians could access voter registration and forms online at the Pennsylvania Department of State website from any computer with an Internet connection, but they could only print the form, sign it and submit it to the elections office, either in person or by mail.
An online option was made available only to those who arrived in person at the Washington County Elections Office and, in June 2009, used a signature pad connected to the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, according to an Observer-Reporter story at the time.
As has been the custom in years past, the Washington County elections office will remain open until 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, this year’s registration deadline, but the deadline is actually at midnight Oct. 5 for those who prefer not to make the trip to the elections office and have a signature on file through PennDOT, either through a driver’s license or a non-driver identification card. This is identical to the postmark deadline that was enforced for voter registration forms submitted by mail, Murren said.
Spahr said an onslaught of new registrations are inevitable in a presidential election year, and Murren concurred that the timing is no coincidence.
Spahr has seen the local voter registration rolls swell by 15,000 to 20,000 voters.
“There has been so much extensive testing, we feel very confident about the system and its ability to handle large numbers,” Murren said.
To learn more about online voter registration, the Department of State asked those interested to check “frequently asked questions” at www.votesPA.com.