Montgomery County launches voter outreach van

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Montgomery County is taking voter services on the road.

The voter services van, the first of its kind in Pennsylvania, is making its debut at the Abington Township’s Fall Festival Saturday. Registered voters can access a number of services onboard, including voter registration and mail ballot requests and drop offs. Voter Services team members will be available to answer any voting-related questions.

“This is an opportunity to just take things a step further in terms of going out into communities, meeting people where they are,” Montgomery County Chair of Commissioners Jamila Winder said. “Not everyone can get to a satellite office. Not everyone can or will go to the website, not everyone will call. And so it’s an opportunity for us to be intentional about going into communities.”

The van’s services are expected to also combat misinformation around the electoral process, said County Commissioner Neil Makhija.

In August, officials warned residents about a text scam targeting registered voters. Makhija said that incident “underscored the reason why we need to be proactive in communicating directly with voters, and it needs to come from our office and government itself.”

Makhija, who is also the chair of the county’s Board of Elections, said this election cycle, the Board of Elections doubled voter services satellite offices and increased the number of secure ballot drop box locations. Officials have also sent out newsletters, hosted telephone town halls and mailed postcards to provide registered voters with the most accurate, up-to-date information.

“It’s important for us in our official capacity to let voters know that they can be confident their ballot is counted and that our election system as a whole is safe, secure and accessible for all Montgomery County residents,” he said. “So there’s no better way to show that than to literally show up in communities when people are living.”

The voter services van will travel to fall festivals, public events, senior living facilities and college campuses.

Winder said the van’s purpose and journey will continue long after Election Day on Nov. 5. The county plans to continue to enhance voter education and voter registration for future local and national election cycles.

“We want to continue to ensure that this proactive form of educating and helping voters is a continuous process,” she said.

The voter services outreach van’s schedule will be available on the county’s website, officials said.