Are You Ready for November 3rd?
Voting Guidelines for NY, NJ, PA, and DE
By Sandra Meola, Director, Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed
If you want the best things for your family, community, environment, and future, you should vote in every election. When you vote, you are vocalizing what you need, want, and believe in. You are standing up and demanding to be counted. That’s why we’re encouraging our 150+ member organizations to become advocates for voting in their respective states.
We’re partnering up with our sister coalitions, the Choose Clean Water Coalition and Healing Our Waters Coalition, to produce a civic engagement toolkit to help organizations spread facts about the voting process: in-person and mail-in voting. And yes, 501(c)(3) organizations can absolutely engage in the civic engagement space and encourage their supporters to vote this November. Check out this resource from the Afterschool Alliance for Election Dos’s and Don’ts for Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations.
The civic engagement toolkit will be available to our Coalition member organizations at the end of August. In the meantime, check out the voting rules per state within the Delaware River Watershed to make sure you’re prepared for upcoming election.
New Jersey
Voter registration deadline: 21 days before Election Day
Absentee ballot application deadline: In person: Received by 3 pm, the day before Election Day. By mail: Received 7 days before Election Day.
Absentee ballots are due within 48 hours of polls closing.
Mail your completed ballot back to the address indicated on the return envelope.
Find your polling place: https://voter.svrs.nj.gov/polling-place-search
More information: https://www.vote.org/state/new-jersey
New York
Voter registration deadline: 25 days before Election Day.
Absentee ballots are due: Postmarked 1 day before Election Day and received 7 days after Election Day.
Voted ballots can also be turned in by hand on election day.
Find your polling place: https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov
More information: https://www.vote.org/state/new-york
Pennsylvania
Voter registration deadline: 15 days before Election Day.
Absentee ballot application deadline: In person: Received 7 days before Election Day. By mail: Received 7 days before Election Day.
Absentee ballots are due by 8 pm on Election Day.
Mail your completed ballot back to the address indicated on the return envelope.
Find your polling place: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/PollingPlaceInfo.aspx
More information: https://www.vote.org/state/pennsylvania
Delaware
Voter registration deadline: 24 days before Election Day.
Absentee ballot application deadline: In person: Received 4 days before Election Day. By mail: Received 4 days before Election Day.
Absentee ballots are due on Election Day.
Mail your completed ballot back to the address indicated on the return envelope.
Find your polling place: https://ivote.de.gov/VoterView
More information: https://www.vote.org/state/delaware
If you experience any of the following, report it to Election Protection (866-687-8683) immediately:
Intimidation
Harassment (including harassing questions about your qualifications to vote)
False information about voting requirements
People impersonating poll workers or election officials
Remember, most U.S. citizens who are 18 or over have the right to be part of the political decision-making process that impacts all of us. Don’t ignore that enormous privilege. Voting is an important right in our democracy because it gives us collective say in how we want to be governed and who gets to make the big decisions that affect our society.