Online Voter Registration Passes Paper Applications

Voting-boothPennsylvania’s new online voter registration system is quickly becoming a success, with more eligible voters now going online than filling out paperwork to register or update their information..

85,000 new voters have used the online system since Jan. 1, while just 68,000 have done it the old-fashioned way, Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortes announced Tuesday.

More than 142,000 have registered online since the system went live on Aug. 27, Department of State numbers show.

Secretary Cortes said he expects the gap between online and paper registrations to widen thanks to the online system’s “convenience and accessibility.”

Eligible voters must register before March 28 to be able to vote in PA’s April 26 primaries, and Cortes is reminding Pennsylvanians they can do it by simply visiting register.votesPA.com.

The Department of State is touting the online system’s increased security and cost reduction – a 2015 Pew Charitable Trust report found savings of $.50 to $2.34 for each electronic application compared to paper.

“The online option greatly increases accuracy of the voter rolls, which is valuable during a busy presidential election year,” Cortes said. “Pennsylvania’s counties are already seeing cost savings because there is less need for data entry from paper applications.”

3 Responses

  1. It’s nice to see Pennsylvania’s voter registration move into the 21st century. This kind of convenience and efficiency should expand further throughout the Commonwealth.

  2. That’s easy to understand. Most new voters are teenagers; they do everything online. Even old people would rather make a few clicks of the mouse than fight traffic to get overcharged for parking at the county courthouse.

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