Three Days to Register, Eighteen Days to Vote

In September we named the three dates that decide whether your voice counts this fall. One of them is now three days away.

Monday, October 19 is the last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania, or to update your registration if you have moved or changed your name. Tuesday, October 27 is the last day to apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot. Tuesday, November 3 is Election Day, with polls open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. A mail ballot has to reach your county election office by 8:00 PM that night. A postmark does not count.

This is the work of Reclaim Your Vote, the National Urban League's non-partisan voter registration, education and activation campaign, carried in Philadelphia by the Urban League of Greater Philadelphia. The name is deliberate. Voting is not a favor extended to our communities. It is a right that generations fought to secure, and it has to be exercised to be kept.

The people elected this November will make decisions about housing, schools, jobs, and public safety. Those are the same decisions that shape whether a small business can grow on your block and whether your family feels secure in it. Local elections are where those choices get made.

Before Monday, do three things.

1. Check your registration at vote.pa.gov. It takes a few minutes. If you moved this year, update your address.

2. Choose how you will vote. If you want to vote by mail, request your ballot well before October 27, then return it early.

3. Bring someone with you. A neighbor, a coworker, a first-time voter, a family member who just turned 18. Registration is easier with company.

If you have a record, you may still be eligible. In Pennsylvania, many people with a record can vote, including people on probation or parole, under house arrest, serving or finished with a misdemeanor sentence, or awaiting trial. People confined for a felony through Election Day cannot. The Pennsylvania Department of State explains the rules in full here.

Defend Democracy is the first of the Urban League's three pillars for a reason. Everything else we do, from housing to small business capital, sits downstream of who holds power and who shows up to decide.

Learn more about the Office of Advocacy