Vote by Mail 2020: Do It Now!
Mail voting will be crucial in this most crucial of elections — and the longer you wait to get your ballot in, the greater the chance it may not be counted!
“Voting early enough was the key to successfully casting a ballot by mail in Pennsylvania last month. At least three weeks before the June 2 primary election, to be precise. Voters whose mail ballots were processed after that point were less and less likely with each passing day to end up successfully voting, according to an Inquirer analysis of data.” (“Pa. ballot mail date key to vote being cast,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/31/2020, Jonathan Lai)
To make sure your mail ballot is counted in November, ignore the published deadlines and act now:
- If you are not already on the list to receive a ballot for the November election automatically, apply now.
- Ballots should be mailed to you starting in mid-September. As soon as you receive your ballot, you should fill it out and put it in the return mail.
- Allow at least two but ideally three weeks for your ballot to be returned. After mid-October consider returning the ballot by non-mail means:
- Deliver the ballot by hand at Voter Services, 601 Westtown Road, West Chester.
- If the county again provides secure drop boxes, deliver the ballot to a drop box (TBD pending Trump challenges in court. Yes, really.)
- Go to your polling place on election day with your mail ballot and surrender the mail ballot. You’ll be able to vote in person
To learn how to find out whether you’re on the list to get a ballot automatically, see the note at the bottom of this post.
For more information on mail-in balloting generally, see our general info page or our page on vote by mail security.
