Voter Registration Office
The Voter Registration Office is responsible for maintaining and updating approximately 21,000 active and inactive registered voters in Snyder County.  We receive changes of addresses from the Department of Transportation weekly.  Most of our new registrations are from the Driver License Photo Centers.  All changes of address, name, or party affiliation are recorded and maintained.  Any person eighteen (18) years of age or older on or by the day of the next election, who has been a citizen of the United States at least one month, who has been a resident of the state of Pennsylvania in Snyder County for at least thirty (30) days may register to vote in Snyder County.

 

Bureau of Elections
The Bureau of Elections Office is responsible for conducting primary and general elections.  Other functions include handing out petitions and providing street lists to candidates, informing the electorate through advertised proclamations and notices of upcoming elections, maintaining the county’s election records, establishing polling places and districts, and assisting the elector with questions about the election’s process, laws, and procedures. 

 

There are 25 election districts in Snyder County.  Each election district has an Election Board, which consists of a Judge of Elections, a Majority Inspector, Minority Inspector, Majority Clerk, and Minority Clerk. 

 

We are responsible for candidates who run for office on the Federal, Judicial, State, County, City, Township, Borough, School District, Precinct, and Party levels.  County, City, Township, and Borough elections are held in odd numbered years.  National and state elections are held in even numbered years.  Every year there is a primary election.  On Election Day we go from a staff of 2 to a staff of well over 130.

 

Pennsylvania has a closed primary, which means a voter must declare himself a member of a major political party and vote only for candidates of that party.  Currently in Pennsylvania the major political parties are Republican and Democratic.  Electors may change their party affiliation beginning the day after each Election Day.

 

Any voter, who is unable to go to the polls due to illness, physical disability, or because they will be out of the municipality on Election Day, may vote by absentee ballot.  Applications for absentee ballots may be made fifty (50) days prior to the election, but not later than seven (7) days before the election.

 

Registration closes thirty (30) days prior to a primary election and opens the day after the primary election.  Registration also closes thirty (30) days prior to the election in November and opens the day after the election.

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