Philly pols publicizing online voter registration as deadline looms

Today is the deadline register to vote in the November 3 general election. So if you’re new to Philadelphia or recently changed addresses, you’ve got until midnight tonight to do so. 

Luckily for all you procrastinators out there, registration is now just a few clicks away. Pennsylvania is one of 25 states (plus the District of Columbia) that allows voters to register online. 

“We know of folks who’ve gotten their voter registration back within less than five minutes after they submitted their registration online,” said Democratic state Sen. Vincent Hughes.

Hughes was in Philadelphia this morning where he and other local politicians (including embattled U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and state Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, who are both fending off corruption charges) took to the podium in the Mayor’s Reception Room at City Hall to plug the new online system, which the state isn’t paying to publicize.

Nearly 26,000 people have taken advantage of the website VotesPA.com to register or to update their registration information as of this morning. (If you’re curious to see the county-by-county breakdown, click here to see this handy spreadsheet, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Deptartment of State.)

“You don’t have to fill out a form, worry about getting it in the mail. All you have to do is find a computer,” said Philadelphia’s Eighth District Councilwoman Cindy Bass. 

Our friends at the Committee of Seventy have even more information about registration and candidates.