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Election Day is now less than a month away.
That means there are other deadlines coming up that could impact your ability to participate next month -- most obviously the deadline to register to vote at the polls Oct. 19.
Oct. 27 is the last day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot and that date also serves as the deadline for early voting.
Those looking to cast a ballot early can do so at the county elections office at the Warren County Courthouse.
Elections Director Lisa Rivett said she will permit individuals who have not previously applied for a mail-in or absentee ballot to vote at her office. Staff will determine a person's eligibility and will be able to vote what is essentially a mail-in ballot at that time.
The deadline for that period corresponds with the deadline for requesting a mail-in or absentee ballot.
State data presented last week indicates there are 8,854,000 registered voters in the Commonwealth -- 4.1 million Democrats and 3.4 million Republicans.
That data indicated that over 2.3 million mail-in ballots have been distributed.
Currently, those ballots can't be processed until election day.
Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said in a press conference that legislation to permit pre-Election Day canvassing would be beneficial to the counting process.
Local officials agree.
"Yes, it would be helpful," Rivett said, "especially for the larger counties. I will have three sets of people (with a Republican and Democrat in each set) – and one person to run our letter opener – on Election Day to open ballots and prepare them for the scanner."
County voters should expect to receive their ballots shortly if they haven't done so already.
Mail tote after mail tote has been leaving the courthouse.
"We are working on getting them out as quickly as possible," Rivett said.
There has also been discussion – and litigation – about the role of poll watchers on Election Day.
The law permits the appointment of party poll watchers and whether they have to be residents of the county they watch (they do) was part of one of the recent lawsuits.
How many are there typically throughout the county?
"It really depends on the election," she said, indicating the number for this fall is unclear. "Most of the time we don't have any."