{"id":306952,"date":"2026-10-15T04:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T04:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306952\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T04:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T04:20:12","slug":"election-2026-voter-registration-deadline-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306952\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: Voter registration deadline looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prospective voters who want to cast ballots in next month\u2019s midterm elections but who\u2019ve yet to register to vote face a looming registration deadline less than a week away.<\/p>\n

Monday is the last day to register to vote in the election Nov. 3, which in local counties will feature federal House races in the 8th and 9th congressional districts, a governor\u2019s race, state House and Senate races and, in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, ballot referendums proposing county-level insider trading bans. For registered voters wishing to vote by mail, as opposed to in person at a polling place, the last day to request a mail-in or civilian absentee ballot is Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

Would-be voters can register online, by mail, in person at their county\u2019s election office and at many other government offices, per the state. Application materials and a wealth of other voting and election-related resources are available online via pa.gov\/agencies\/vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the numbers<\/p>\n

Democrats maintain a statewide voter registration advantage over Republicans of about 234,545, with state data updated Monday showing 3,871,004 registered Democrats in Pennsylvania compared to 3,636,459 Republicans. The Democratic advantage has eroded considerably over the past decade \u2014 it stood at about 916,274 when Republican Donald Trump first won Pennsylvania and the presidency in 2016 \u2014 but Democrats have made some gains this year.<\/p>\n

\"ScrantonScranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and U.S. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp. (TIMES-TRIBUNE FILE)<\/p>\n

They outnumbered their GOP counterparts statewide by about 171,402 at the end of 2025, and have grown that advantage by more than 63,000 registrations in the time since.<\/p>\n

Democrats also maintain a modest yet growing registration advantage in the 8th Congressional District, where the midterm matchup between incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Dallas Twp. and Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti remains among the most competitive and closely watched House races in the nation this cycle. In the district that includes all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike and parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 16,102 as of Monday, up from about 14,867 in mid-September, 13,716 in late July, 12,372 in early May and 12,084 in early February.<\/p>\n

In the sprawling 9th Congressional District \u2014 home to the region\u2019s other House race between incumbent GOP U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser of Jackson Twp. and Democratic challenger Rachel Wallace of East Brunswick Twp., Schuylkill County \u2014 Republicans maintain a massive registration advantage over Democrats. It stood at 157,071 as of Monday, down just slightly from 157,387 about a month ago.<\/p>\n

\"DemocratDemocrat Rachel Wallace is challenging incumbent Republican Dan Meuser in the race for Pennsylvania\u2019s 9th Congressional District. (FILE)<\/p>\n

The 9th District spans all or parts of 12 counties, including all of Susquehanna, Wyoming and Schuylkill and part of Luzerne in the northeast.<\/p>\n

Registered voters not affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic parties will also cast ballots in midterm races here and elsewhere. The are about 1,518,865 unaffiliated registered voters in Pennsylvania, including about 90,212 in the 8th District and about 76,271 in the 9th District, state data shows.<\/p>\n

Residents unsure of their voter registration status can check it at pavoterservices.pa.gov<\/a>, another online resource with links to voter and election services.<\/p>\n

\"DirectorDirector of Elections Beth Hopkins, with voter registration employee Darryl Bickauaskas and elections coordinator Madison Aulisio in the lobby of the Lackawanna County Government Center Wednesday, October 14, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prospective voters who want to cast ballots in next month\u2019s midterm elections but who\u2019ve yet to register to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[836,201,182,883,803,139,28,29,50,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-306952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-election","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-politics","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306952","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=306952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}