2022 Midterm Elections: Getting Absentee Ballots In Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA — Voters in a handful of states can request an absentee ballot now as 2022 midterm election campaigns enter the final stretch. Absentee ballots for the Nov. 8 general election in Pennsylvania are expected to be available starting on Monday, Sept. 19.

Voters should be aware of the procedure to get a mail-in ballot they followed in the 2020 general election may not be the same now.

Multiple states changed their election laws after the COVID-19 pandemic upended voting patterns in the presidential election, with 69 percent of Americans casting ballots nontraditionally, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Sponsors of new state laws on absentee voting say the changes improve election security, while critics say they make it harder for people to vote.

On Election Day, Pennsylvania voters will choose a new governor to replace Tom Wolf.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro is on the Democratic ticket, opposed by Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano.

The U.S. Senate race to replace Republican Pat Toomey features Democrat John Fetterman battling Republican Mehmet Oz.

If you are a registered Pennsylvania voter, you can use the early in-person voting option.

As soon as ballots are ready, you can request, receive, vote and cast your absentee ballot at your county election board or an officially designated site.

The last day to request an absentee ballot is seven days before the election.

• Nov. 1, 5 p.m. - Due date for applications for absentee ballots to be received by your county election board.

Absentee ballots start being counted on Election Day.

Last-Minute Emergencies

In emergency situations (unexpected illness, disability or last-minute absence from your municipality), you can request an Emergency Absentee Ballot after 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election, according to information on the vote.pa.gov. website.

The deadline to submit your Emergency Absentee Ballot Application to the County Election Board is 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8.

• Emergency Application for Absentee Ballot (PDF)
• Authorized Representative for Emergency Absentee Ballot Form

In the 2020 presidential election, 43 percent of voters cast absentee ballots by mail and 26 percent voted in person before Election Day, according to the Census Bureau. Four years earlier, 21 percent of voters mailed in their ballots and 19 percent voted in person before Election Day.

Among groups seeing increases in absentee or early voting in 2020 were voters over 65, those with a bachelor’s degree, women, and Asian and Hispanic voters, according to the Census Bureau.

Pennsylvania's mail-in voting law, long at the center of debunked claims of voter fraud in elections since the pandemic, was upheld by the state Supreme Court in early August.

Act 77, passed with strong bipartisan support before the pandemic to allow "no excuse" mail-in voting for any resident and to expand voting access, does not violate the state's Constitution, justices found.

The 5-2 decision reverses a lower Commonwealth Court's February ruling, in which Republican judges argued that the move required an amendment to the state constitution. That decision was immediately appealed to the high court by Gov. Tom Wolf's administration.

Absentee ballot requests are already being taken in several states. Once the applications are verified, election officials begin mailing them during the times specified in state laws, according to information gathered by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Those officials will continue to verify and mail out absentee ballot requests for either a designated period or right up to Election Day. The NCSL said few states don’t specify when they start accepting absentee ballots, but in general:

• Ten states — Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin — begin mailing ballots to voters more than 45 days before Election Day.
• Eleven states — Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming — begin mailing ballots to voters 45 days before the election.
• Fourteen states — Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Vermont — begin mailing ballots to voters 30-45 days before the election.
• Fourteen states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, and Washington — begin mailing ballots to voters fewer than 30 days before the election.
• Eight states — California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington — automatically mail absentee ballots to all voters.