Oct 1, 2019 3 min read

New voters, or those who want to change their political affiliation before the Nov. 5 general election, have until Monday, Oct. 7, to handle these tasks.

Anyone who has moved or changed names since the last election must notify the local elections office by Oct. 7 or use the website www.votespa.com.

The Washington County elections office will remain open Oct. 7 until 5 p.m., a half-hour later than its usual hours, to accommodate those who plan to register in person or hand-deliver registration forms. The Greene County elections office will be closing at its usual time, 4:30 p.m.

Applicants who have a driver’s license or PennDOT identification card can link the signature on file with PennDOT to the voter record. Those who do not have a Pennsylvania driver’s license or identification card can upload a digital image of their signature or print, sign and mail the completed online application to the local elections office.

In Washington County, the address is 100 W. Beau St., Suite 206, Washington, PA 15301.

The address of the Greene County Office Building is 93 E. High St., First Floor, Waynesburg, PA 15370.

Qualifications to vote include being a U.S.citizen and a resident of Pennsylvania and the election district at least 30 days before an election. Eligible voters must be 18 years old or older on or before the election.

Meanwhile, elections offices in Pennsylvania are receiving requests for absentee ballots online for the first election since the state launched an online application.

Forty percent of Washington County’s absentee ballot applications had arrived online by midday Monday, while in Greene County, they accounted for just under 13%.

As of Monday, Washington County had received 104 online requests for absentee ballots and 156 paper applications.

By Nov. 3, 2015, the last time county commissioners and the majority of row offices were on the ballot, 1,002 Washington Countians had voted by absentee ballot, said Melanie Ostrander, elections director.

Rachel Gillispie, administrative assistant to Greene County Elections Director Tina Kiger, said her office had received 22 online applications for absentee ballots compared with 149 on paper.

In the general election of 2015, 321 Greene Countians voted by absentee ballot.

Previously, Pennsylvanians could only print an application from the votespa.com website, which they would have to fill out by hand and mail or drop off at a county elections office.

Ostrander said it’s important that online applicants submit their names exactly as they appear on their driver’s licenses because the votespa.com website interfaces with the driver’s license database for verification purposes.

If there is a difference between the voter’s name on a driver’s license or non-driver card and the voter identification card, the elections office will reconcile the two using date of birth.

The online application site, aimed at making voting more convenient and increasing voter participation, is votesPA.com/ApplyAbsentee. It has been in use since Sept. 16. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29.

For those who wait until the last minute, the turnaround time is just three days. Voters must still mail or hand-deliver their completed ballot to their county election office by the deadline, which is 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1. In Pennsylvania, the law requires that absentee ballots be in county elections offices by that time. Ballots postmarked Nov. 1 but received at elections offices after the deadline are not eligible to be counted, according to the state Election Code of 1937.

Absentee ballots may be cast by individuals with illnesses or disabilities, individuals who will be away from their municipality on business on Election Day and Pennsylvania students attending out-of-state colleges or universities, among others.