If you’re not able to vote when you get to the polling place, here’s what to do
Every year, some voters show up at a polling place and find their name isn't on the rolls for that location.
![image-2869.jpeg A line of voters in Langhorne, Bucks County, waits for their polling place to open. (Eugene Sonn/WHYY](https://whyy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07i/image-2869.jpeg)
A line of voters in Langhorne, Bucks County, waits for their polling place to open. (Eugene Sonn/WHYY
Every year, some voters show up at a polling place and find their name isn’t on the rolls for that location.
If that happens to you tomorrow, ask your election official for help, advised Larry King, Bucks County public information director, who described the ensuing process.
“The judge of elections is asked to call the voter registration office back in Doylestown … at that point, they can go through the rolls. It could be the person has gone to the wrong voting place, it could be something else,” he said. “But they try to resolve it that way.”
If the issue cannot be resolved, request a provisional ballot, and your vote will be counted once your registration is verified.
In Philadelphia, City Commissioner Al Schmidt said officials go right to the provisional ballot remedy. But, if it turns out you’re in the wrong voting place, your vote may not be counted.
“If a voter shows up in a congressional district other than where they are registered, their vote for Congress wouldn’t count or their vote for state representative wouldn’t count,” he said. “But their votes for offices that are on the ballot where they are registered and where they show up — such as statewide races or citywide races — would count.”
If you’re unsure of your polling place, check the websites of the Departments of State in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
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