Absentee voting has rapidly become a defining feature of Pennsylvania’s elections, reshaping how and when voters cast their ballots. With requests already outpacing 2021, early engagement is more important than ever.
In 2021, absentee ballots accounted for 25% of all votes, with Democratic registrants casting about 72% of them. However, 56% of in person ballots were cast by Republican registrants.
Absentee mail voting has continued it’s tremendous growth in Pennsylvania since the laws were widely opened up in the pandemic.
- With 14 days remaining before the absentee ballot request deadline, requests have already exceeded the 2021 total by 54,000.
- There are 163,000 more ballots requested than at this same point in 2021, a 20% increase.
To put this in perspective, a month out from Election Day there were 524,000 ballots sent, which is a milestone that took an additional week to reach in 2021.
- This trend only accelerated in the days that followed, a significant boost in the delivery of ballots to voters
- Due to the increase in ballots requested, 2021 has already been fully surpassed.
Since ballots have been sent out sooner, they are also being returned significantly earlier than in 2021.
- With 22 days to the election, under 28,000 ballots had been returned in 2021, compared to just under 104,000 so far this year.
- In 2021, it took 8 days to Election Day for half of the total ballots to be returned.
These trends highlight the growing urgency of engaging absentee voters earlier, as requests are already outpacing 2021 and ballots are being delivered sooner. Prioritizing outreach earlier can secure votes and allow greater focus on late deciders as Election Day approaches.
