HARRISBURG, Pa. (EYT) – Pennsylvania voters must be registered by Monday, April 16, if they want to participate in the primary elections to be held on May 15.
Pennsylvania’s primary is open only to those registered as Democrats or Republicans.
Voters will select nominees to represent their party in the November 6 general election. Nominees will be named for U.S. senator, governor, lieutenant governor, representatives in Congress, half of the state senators, all representatives in the General Assembly, and members of the state and county party committees.
Individuals wishing to register to vote in the May 15 primary must be:
– A citizen of the United States for at least 30 days before the primary.
– A resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which the individual desires to register and vote for at least 30 days before the primary.
– At least 18 years of age on or before the date of the primary.
With the registration deadline quickly approaching, Acting Secretary of State Robert Torres recommends Online Voter Registration (OVR) as “the best method for registering or updating your registration.”
OVR has been used by more than one million Pennsylvanians and can be utilized by voters whether they are registering for the first time or updating an existing registration with a change of name, address, or party affiliation.
“OVR makes registering or updating an existing registration more convenient, secure and accurate than using a traditional paper form,” Torres said, and further encouraged the use of the OVR system because it “ensures that applications are complete when submitted, so there is far less chance of error.”
In addition to using the OVR site, eligible voters can register by mail or apply in person at a county voter registration office; county assistance offices; Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program offices; PennDOT photo and driver’s license centers; Armed Forces recruitment centers; county clerk of orphans’ courts or marriage license offices; area agencies on aging; county mental health and intellectual disabilities offices; student disability services offices of the State System of Higher Education; offices of special education in high schools; and Americans with Disabilities Act-mandated complementary paratransit providers.
