Voting Briefing
Image: Janet Chen, Strath Haven High School ’24
Editor’s note: This short follow-up to earlier articles about voting is not comprehensive.
October 19 is the last day to register to vote in this year’s election.
October 27 is the last day for the county election office to receive your application for a mail-in or absentee ballot for this year’s election.
November 3 is Election Day. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
No Naked Mail-In Ballots
If voting by mail, make sure you put your ballot first in the smaller secrecy envelope, then in the larger return mail (“declaration”) envelope. Ballots missing their secrecy envelopes will not be counted.
Also, make sure you write the date you’re filling the ballot out, not your date of birth, next to your signature on the declaration envelope.
You can mail your mail-in ballot in any mailbox.
Drop Boxes
If you don’t want to put your ballot in a mailbox, Delaware County is setting up drop boxes for completed ballots. As of this writing, drop boxes at Swarthmore Borough Hall, Helen Kate Furness Library in Wallingford, and Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley are physically present but not yet functional.
Updates will be available on the county’s website. Swarthmore Borough will post updates about their drop box on the borough’s website and Facebook page.
There is a working drop box at the Delaware County Courthouse, 201 W. Front Street, Media. It is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. - noon.
At the Post Office
In addition to dropping your ballot in a mailbox or drop box, you can bring it to the window at your local post office. Swarthmorean publisher Todd Strine did this on Tuesday. He reports:
I said to the woman working the counter, “I know I could just drop this in the box, but I figured it’s better if I hand it to you personally.” And she replied: “Yes, because then we do THIS.” And, with that, she stamped the upper right corner with a red USPS cancellation date stamp, and safely deposited it in the day’s batch of outgoing mail. The sound the stamp made when she punched it down was very satisfying.”
Resources
The Delaware County election phone hotline is open Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. – noon: 610-891-VOTE. By calling this number, you can obtain information from trained staff about voter registration, mail-in ballots, vote-by-mail applications, polling place locations, ballot boxes, deadlines, and more.
Delaware County’s election website has information, ballot applications, and election news.
