What you need to know to vote in Pennsylvania’s April 2024 primary

The deadline to register to vote in the Pennsylvania primary is right around the corner.

Although Pennsylvania is considered a critical swing state in this year’s presidential election, its voters hold less sway in each party’s primary. That’s because the state holds its primary relatively late in the process, in late April.

That being said, there are various other positions on the ballot specific to Pennsylvania that the state’s voters will decide.

» READ MORE: Your candidate guide to the Pa. primary, from president to state House and Senate races

Here’s what you need to know about the Pennsylvania primary and how to register to vote:

The Pennsylvania primary will take place April 23 and the general election will be Nov 5.

The registration deadline for the primary is April 8.

Voters must be at least 18 on the day of the election, and a U.S. citizen and a resident of Pennsylvania at least 30 days prior.

Voters who miss the primary will have until Oct. 21 to register for the general election.

You can register to vote online on the Pennsylvania voter services website. You can also register at your county voter registration office, or print out an application and deliver it or mail it to the office. If you’re mailing your registration, it must be received by the deadline.

Pennsylvania residents are now also automatically registered to vote when get their driver’s license, unless they opt out of doing so.

Pennsylvanians who are on active duty in the military, or are hospitalized or bedridden veterans, are able to register at any time. More information is available at www.fvap.gov.

If you’re already registered to vote in Pennsylvania, you only need to update your registration if you have changed your name or political party, or if you moved. If you moved from another state, you need to re-register.

The deadline to update your registration for the primary is the same as the April 8 registration deadline.

You can check your voter registration status online on the Pennsylvania voter services website.

Voters will have an opportunity to choose their party’s nominee for president and their representatives in the U.S. House and Senate. On the state level, voters will also get to vote for nominees for attorney general, auditor general, treasurer, and representatives for the General Assembly.

Voters will also be able to select delegates for their parties’ national conventions this summer.

Pennsylvania is one of just nine states that holds closed primaries. This means that voters must register as a member of a party in order to vote in the primary. This forces independent and third party voters out of the primaries unless they register with one of the two major parties. In Pennsylvania, 15% of registered voters are either unaffiliated with a party or registered with a third party.

Polls will be open on primary day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. If it’s your first time voting at a polling location, you will be required to bring an approved form of identification. Polling locations can be found on the state department website.

All Pennsylvania voters can apply to vote by mail, and you do not need an excuse to do so. That being said, you must request a mail ballot for the primary and get it to your local county board of elections by 5 p.m. on April 16.

The application can be accessed here and you can find your local board of elections here.

Mail ballots for the primary must be returned by 8 p.m. on April 23.

In Pennsylvania, if you’ve completed the terms of your incarceration for a felony conviction and have been released from a correctional facility or halfway house by the election, you can vote.

Pretrial detainees and people on probation or released on parole (including parolees living in a halfway house) can also vote. People under house arrest, regardless of their conviction status or conditions of their confinement, are also eligible.

People who are in prison, a halfway house, or other alternative correctional facility on pre-release status for a felony conviction during the election are not eligible to vote.

Those who have been convicted of violating the Pennsylvania Election Code within the last four years also cannot vote.