Pennsylvania In-Person Early Voting

They're really "counter ballots"

In nearly all states across the country eligible voters can request and cast a mail ballot at an election office. In election administration these ballots are called “counter ballots.”

Counter ballots are distinguished from in-person early voting in that in-person early voting on two accounts.

First, in-person early voting often has a more streamlined check-in process similar to Election Day voting where voters present their required identification. Conversely, counter ballots often require election officials to issue a mail ballot to the voter. Issuing a mail ballot includes the extra step of the voter requesting the mail ballot, which may entail more paperwork.

Second, election officials often provide in-person early voting at special early voting polling locations, whereas counter ballots can be cast only at an election office. In rural locations, in-person early voting may only be provided at the election offices, but more densely populated areas may be several in-person early voting sites.

In Pennsylvania, counter ballots are known as “on-demand mail voting” and because Donald Trump this election starting telling his supporters mail ballots are bad and fraudulent but in-person early voting is good, his supporters are lining up to request and cast mail ballots at election offices, sometimes with lines hours long, rather than make their lives easier by requesting a mail ballot. They could have returned their mail ballots in-person at an election office and skip the counter ballot line, but they would rather stand in a line because Trump told them to do so.

Predictably, Trump supporters are claiming “election interference” but they really only have Trump and his Republican supporters in the Pennsylvania legislature to blame for the limited in-person early voting option. Before 2024, Trump disparaged all forms of early voting — mail and in-person. When Pennsylvania Republicans had a chance to offer in-person early voting, they balked because they listened to Trump.

So, who is utilizing counter ballots in Pennsylvania? Answering this question isn’t entirely straightforward since the state does not report the number of counter ballots. They do report the date when a mail ballot is requested and returned. A counter ballots is requested and cast at the same time, so reasonably a counter ballot is a mail ballot requested and voted on the same date. It is also possible for overseas civilian and military voters to request and cast a ballot on the same date — and these voters tend to break towards the Democrats — so this approach isn’t entirely a perfect measure.