Acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman celebrated the seventh anniversary of online voter registration (OVR) in the commonwealth and reminded eligible Pennsylvanians to register to vote or update their existing registration by Oct. 24 for the November general election.
“Expanding access to the ballot box and simplifying the process to register to vote were immediate priorities for Gov. Tom Wolf when he took office in 2015,” Chapman said. “Online voter registration immediately made it easier for millions of voters to exercise their constitutional right, and it remains an invaluable tool for voters.”
Among notable OVR statistics:
- Of the more than 3 million online transactions since 2015:
- 47.2% are from voters registered as Democrat, 35.2% are from voters registered as Republican and 17.6% are from people registered as other.
- 27.9% are from people ages 17-24, 27.1% are from people ages 25-34, 15.3% are from people ages 35-44, 11.1% are from people ages 45-54, 10% are from people ages 55-65 and 8.6% are from people 65 and older.
- More than 1.7 million uses were people registering to vote, and more than 1.2 million uses were people making changes to existing applications.
- In 2022 alone, OVR has been used more than 167,000 times – including more than 66,000 times to submit new voter registration applications and more than 95,000 to make changes to an existing registration.
- OVR transactions (new registrations and changes to existing ones) account for approximately 27% of all transactions.
- Paper applications account for 19%, and motor voter transactions (people who register to vote or make registration changes at a PennDOT facility) account for approximately 54% of all transactions.
“In addition to being more accessible, OVR is secure and accurate,” Chapman said. “Specifically, it has reduced the number of inadvertent errors made by voters during the registration process, increased the integrity of the voting rolls and cut counties’ data-entry costs.”
“Voting is one of the best ways to ensure your voice is heard,” Chapman added. “When more people have access to the ballot box, more voices are brought to the table.”
