Lehigh County Voting Information

Primary Election is MAY 16, 2023
General Election is NOVEMBER 7, 2023

PAGE UPDATED 4/17/23 — Additional updates will be made as information becomes available
Refresh page for current information.

Voting Process

CONTENTS:
● Lehigh County Voter Registration Office Information
● Registering to vote
● Mail-in or absentee voting
● Submitting your mail-in or absentee ballot
● Early in-person voting
● Election Day voting
● Resources for voting information

Lehigh County Voter Registration Office Information

Lehigh County Voter Registration Office
Lehigh County Government Center
17 South Seventh Street, Allentown 18101
OFFICE HOURS:
Monday – Friday, 8 am – 4 pm
Additional extended hours see Election Calendar

Call for Information & Assistance 610-782-3194
Email electionboard@lehighcounty.org
Website Lehigh County Home Page or Lehigh County Voter Registration
FaceBook Lehigh County Voter Office

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Registering to vote

You have to be registered to vote in Pennsylvania at least 15 days before an election in order to use any of the options of casting a ballot in an election. ( See Election Calendar) To register, go to vote.pa.gov and follow the instructions. (You can also use that site to check to see if you’re already registered to vote, and make changes to your registration if necessary.)

►View a Video Showing How to Register to Vote or Change Your Registration on Line◄

Once you are registered, you can choose how you want to submit your ballot – either by a mail-in or absentee ballot or by voting in person.

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Mail-in or absentee voting

IF you choose to vote without doing so in person, you will need to apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot. You can do that on line. APPLY ON LINE. NOTE: The Deadline to apply is 7 days before the election, but due to concerns about USPS delivery, you should allow additional time and apply NOW, or you may want to consider voting early at the voter registration office (The last day for this option is also 7 days before the election— See Election Calendar)

Here are some important notes:

You can apply for either a mail-in ballot or an absentee ballot. You do not have to have a reason to apply for a mail-in ballot, but an absentee ballot is for those who know they will be out of the area or otherwise prevented from voting in person on Election Day. The key point: there’s no difference between the two classifications; you will get the same ballot materials in either case.

If you apply with the online form, you will get emails tracking the progress of your ballot materials, telling you 1) when your application is received and approved, 2) when your ballot materials have been mailed to you and, 3) when your completed ballot has been received by the county elections office. It’s the best way to make sure your application is processed and your ballot will be counted.

You can also fill out a paper application and mail it into the county voter registration office. If you do that, you will not get the automatic email tracking function, but you can call the voter registration office to have them check on the status of your ballot materials. The application can be downloaded from vote.pa.gov; in addition, some groups are mailing ballot applications to selected voters now.

Please provide your contact information — providing contact information (email and/or phone number) will allow the Voter Registration Office to contact the you in the event that there is an issue with your ballot.

Once you have applied for a mail-in or absentee ballot, the county will check that you’re a registered voter. If you are registered, they will mail to you a package of ballot materials.

This package contains:

An official ballot, which has the specific election contests that apply to your home precinct. Your ballot will be identified by a unique bar code.
A yellow “secrecy envelope” in which the ballot itself is to be placed when completed; the envelope is then sealed by the voter. (Make no marks on this envelope.)
A mailing envelope, in which the secrecy envelope is placed; the mailing envelope also has a form on it that must be filled out and signed for the ballot to be valid. USE BOTH ENVELOPES. OUTSIDE ENVELOPE MUST BE SIGNED & DATED AS INSTRUCTED. Sign, where indicated, on the lower left of the back of the envelope, use the date you are signing.
Instructions on filling out the ballot and using the secrecy and mailing envelopes correctly. CAREFULLY READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS on the instruction sheet, on the ballot and on the outer envelope. It’s important to know that the state Supreme Court has ruled that ballots that are not returned in both envelopes as instructed must be discarded and not counted.

►View a Video Showing How to Complete Your Ballot ◄

Submitting your mail-in/absentee ballot:

Once you have filled out your ballot and sealed it in the two envelopes correctly, you have a choice on how to submit it. Ballots must be received in the county election office by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

You can mail your ballot to the voter registration office using the U.S. Postal Service. We’re recommending that if you plan to mail your ballot materials back, you do so as soon as possible to ensure the USPS has enough time to deliver your ballot by 8 p.m. deadline on Election Day.
USE BOTH ENVELOPES.
PUT YOUR BALLOT IN THE YELLOW SECRECY ENVELOPE FIRST. Seal the envelope. Make no marks on this envelope
PUT THE SECRECY ENVELOPE INTO THE PRE-ADDRESSED, POSTAGE PAID MAILING ENVELOPE
OUTSIDE ENVELOPE MUST BE SIGNED & DATED AS INSTRUCTED.
Sign, where indicated, on the lower left of the back of the envelope, use the date you are signing.
You can drop off your completed ballot package at one of five drop box locations located throughout Lehigh County. (Check locations and hours for possible changes!) These secure containers are placed in government facilities and are under surveillance during election season. County employees will empty them each day through Election Day.
First Date of Availability TBA by Lehigh County Voter Office, see Election Calendar
Return your Lehigh County Ballot only to a Lehigh County Drop Box.
USE BOTH ENVELOPES.
PUT YOUR BALLOT IN THE YELLOW SECRECY ENVELOPE FIRST. Seal the envelope. Make no marks on this envelope.
PUT THE SECRECY ENVELOPE INTO THE PRE-ADDRESSED, POSTAGE PAID MAILING ENVELOPEOUTSIDE ENVELOPE MUST BE SIGNED & DATED AS INSTRUCTED.
Sign, where indicated, on the lower left of the back of the envelope, use the date you are signing.
Return only your own ballot. This is the law. Violation may result in prosecution. Exception: See Third Party Ballot Delivery for instructions and Certificate of Designated Agent Form, available in English and Spanish.

► DROP BOX Locations and Hours of Availability
You can drop off your ballot at the Voter Registration Office, at the Lehigh County Government Center at 17 South 7^th Street in Allentown during business hours any time after receiving your ballot.
USE BOTH ENVELOPES.
PUT YOUR BALLOT IN THE YELLOW SECRECY ENVELOPE FIRST. Seal the envelope. Make no marks on this envelope
PUT THE SECRECY ENVELOPE INTO THE PRE-ADDRESSED, POSTAGE PAID MAILING ENVELOPE
OUTSIDE ENVELOPE MUST BE SIGNED & DATED.
Sign, where indicated, on the lower left of the back of the envelope, use the date you are signing.
Return only your own ballot. Exception: See Third Party Ballot Delivery for instructions and Certificate of Designated Agent Form, available in English and Spanish.

► Lehigh County Voter Registration Office Location and Hours

TRACK YOUR BALLOT
In all these situations, if you provided an email address, the email tracking function will let you know when your ballot has been officially received by Voter Registration office.
You can also track your ballot on line. TRACK YOUR BALLOT.

IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT
Check the status of your ballot.
Contact the Voter Registration Office with any questions.
Voter Registration Office Hours & Phone number

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Early In-Person Voting

If you want to vote in person but do not want to go to your precinct’s polling location, you can cast an in-person early vote at the county Voter Registration Office at the Lehigh County Government Center during its hours of operation. First Date of Availability TBA by Lehigh County Voter Office, See Election Calendar
If you have applied for a mail-in or absentee ballot and do not provide the blank ballot materials when you go to vote in person, you will only be able to cast a provisional vote.
Additional information on voting early in-person by mail-in or absentee ballot available at vote.pa.gov
Last Day to Apply to Vote at the Lehigh County Office is 7 days BEFORE the election by 5 pm, See Election Calendar

► Lehigh County Voter Registration Office Location and Hours

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Voting in person – on Election Day

Polling places for each precinct will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day, and if you are registered to vote you will be able to cast your vote at the polling place for your precinct.
You are still be permitted to vote if you are in line by 8 pm.

Polling place locations sometimes change before the election.
Verify the location of your polling place location HERE.

Lehigh County polling places use a paper ballot/scanning system.
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS How to Vote Using a Hand-Marked Paper Ballot
VIDEO Using the New Voting Machines

Please remember:

▶ You will NOT be able to turn in a completed mail-in ballot at your precinct polling place to be counted on Election Day. You’ll be told to take it to one of the county drop box locations and deposit it into the drop box to have your ballot counted. DROP BOX Locations and Hours of Availability. Latest available drop box on Election Day is at the Lehigh County Government Office location in Allentown — deadline 8 pm. Voting by Provisional Ballot will be your only option at your polling place.

▶ If you applied for a mail-in ballot, you won’t be able to cast your vote at your polling place on Election Day – UNLESS you bring with you the ballot materials sent to you, without having filled them out. If you do that, the poll workers will invalidate your mail-in ballot materials and will allow you to cast your vote in person.
If you bring a marked ballot with you, Election Officials cannot accept it. You may either take it to a ballot drop box location or vote by Provisional Ballot at your polling place.
If you don’t have the mail-in ballot materials with you, the poll workers will let you cast a provisional ballot; if it’s found later that you did submit the mail-in ballot, that one will be counted and your provisional ballot will be discarded.

One last note: with the expected volume of mail-in and absentee ballots in this election, and the fact that currently election officials are prohibited from beginning to process or tally those ballots before Election Day, it is very likely that final results of the election in Lehigh County WILL NOT BE KNOWN until several days after the election. This is NOT evidence of fraud, or some sort of conspiracy to “steal the election;” it’s simply the result of having a large number of ballots to count in a short period of time, and voters will need to be patient while that process is conducted.

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