{"id":177344,"date":"2026-04-27T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177344\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:00:11","slug":"deadline-to-register-to-vote-in-the-2026-pa-primary-is-a-week-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177344\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadline to register to vote in the 2026 PA primary is a week away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Election season is underway in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

May 4 is the deadline to register to vote<\/a> in the spring primary. Bucks County voters are set to select their nominees for U.S. representative in the 1st Congressional District and for state Senate.<\/p>\n

Election Day is May 19, and in Pennsylvania, a closed primary state, only registered Democrats and Republicans or third party voters with a candidate on the ballot can vote.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t sure how to register, check the Pennsylvania Department of State\u2019s website<\/a>, or fill out a registration form at the Bucks County Administration Buildings in Doylestown or in Lower Bucks County at the county annex in Bristol Township. Ask for a registration form<\/a>, and staff members should direct you to the right office.<\/p>\n

Indie voters Civic groups advocate opening Pennsylvania primaries to independents<\/a><\/p>\n

State government agencies, including the state\u2019s Department of Transportation and county offices such as area agencies on aging, offer additional locations for people to register.<\/p>\n

How to check if you’re registered to vote in PA<\/p>\n

Residents who don’t know if they’re registered to vote in Pennsylvania\u00a0can check<\/a>\u00a0their status online. A tool on the pa.gov website also allows voters to\u00a0update<\/a>\u00a0their registration, which is required if someone moves or changes their address, changes their name or wants to change their party.<\/p>\n

Voter eligibility,<\/a>\u00a0detailed by the Department of State, require U.S. citizenship and residency in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s Voter Education Toolkit<\/a> has information for specific people, including college students, members of the military and civilians overseas, and first-time voters.<\/p>\n

To find out who\u2019s running, you can use vote411.org<\/a> and customize it to your voting district.<\/p>\n

Your local races A look at who’s running for PA House and Senate in Bucks County in ’26<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Pennsylvania's<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania’s 2026 primary is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19.<\/p>\n

Who is on the ballot in Bucks County, PA?<\/p>\n

This spring, Bucks County voters have several big races, including for U.S. House of Representatives. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Bucks, is running unopposed. Democrats may choose between the party\u2019s endorsed candidate, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, and Lucia Simonelli.<\/p>\n

In Lower Bucks County\u2019s 6th Senatorial District, state Sen. Frank Farry, R-Bucks, and Democratic candidate Eileen Hartnett Albillar run unopposed and are the presumed candidates on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

In Lower Bucks County\u2019s 140th State House of Representatives, incumbent state Rep. Jim Prokopiak, D-Bucks, and Republican candidate Michael J. Gettis are running unopposed and are expected to face off in the November general election as well.<\/p>\n

Also in Lower Bucks, in the 142nd District incumbent state Rep. Joe Hogan, R-Bucks, and Democrat Kristin Egan are unopposed.<\/p>\n

In the 16th Senatorial District representing part of Bucks County, state Rep. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh, is unopposed, but Democrats may choose between Mark Pinsley and Bradley Merkl-Gump as their nominee for the November election.<\/p>\n

Important dates for the 2026 PA primary<\/p>\n

May\u00a04:\u00a0Final day to\u00a0register to vote.<\/p>\n

May\u00a012:\u00a0Final day to\u00a0apply for a mail ballot.<\/p>\n

May\u00a019:\u00a0Primary. Polls are to be open 7 a.m.-8 p.m.<\/p>\n

May\u00a019, 8 p.m.:\u00a0Deadline for\u00a0all mail ballots to be received.<\/p>\n

JD Mullane can be reached at jmullane@usatodayco.com.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: How to register to vote in PA before the 2026 primary deadline<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Election season is underway in Pennsylvania. May 4 is the deadline to register to vote in the spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[197,79281,5926,28,30812,30,29,73954,78698],"class_list":["post-177344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bucks-county","tag-congressional-district","tag-democrats-and-republicans","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-department-of-state","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-registered-to-vote","tag-registration-form"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}