While state officials haven’t said much publicly about the plan, Pennsylvania could soon be the 28th U.S. state to offer paperless, online voter registration, local officials confirmed Friday. The plan would open voter registration – currently carried out by mail – to the Internet, with state driver’s-licenseholders able to submit their signatures electronically. Those without licenses could sign up as well, though they’d still have to fill out some paperwork, officials said. “It is coming. Online voter registration is coming,” Bedford County Chief Clerk Jill Gordon said Friday. “I don’t know an exact rollout date.” Gordon said county-level election officers have been involved in phone conferences with state officials, including Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortes, to discuss the plan. Planners had initially hoped to roll out the new system by the end of August, she said.
While the plan is apparently under discussion among those involved directly in registration, local party figures knew relatively little as of Friday.
“I hadn’t heard about it until my first phone call (earlier) today,” Blair County Republican Party Chairman A.C. Stickel said. County Democratic Chairwoman Gillian Kratzer said she hadn’t heard specifically about the plan as of last week. A Department of State spokeswoman said she didn’t have any information on the possible plan Friday.