File photo Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Warren County.

During last year’s presidential election, nearly 25% of Pennsylvania voters cast their ballot before the traditional Election Day. This begs a question: Should the state do more to promote early voting?

For now, the option is limited. Registered voters have the option of applying for a mail ballot in person at a county elections office. In that one visit, individuals are able to apply for and submit their ballot. Surprisingly, about 1.7 million of 7 million voters took advantage of this option last year in the Commonwealth.

Nationally, numbers for early voting continue to increase. In 2024, there were nearly 86 million voters who participated in person or by mail. Those results offer an indication that in the future fewer will be taking place in a traditional Election Day vote.

“In 2024, Election Day voting did not rebound to the levels it was at before 2020,” notes the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. “Roughly 45% of voters waited until Election Day to vote in 2024 compared to more than 60% in 2016.”

In neighboring Chautauqua County, four locations offer a convenience that has been part of the annual election season in New York state since 2019. Early voting began the morning of Oct. 25. It will conclude at 5 p.m. Sunday — a stretch of nine days.

Trends indicate that early voting is gaining favor with residents there. Last year, 17,046 voters cast their ballot before the official Election Day in the county. Compared to the 2020 presidential vote, which was during a pandemic, 14,279 voted early. That is an increase of 19% locally.

Those numbers signal a transformation that aligns with an American culture that is less connected to a strict schedule. This lifestyle has become more prevalent over the last 15 years due to the immediate access to news, information and entertainment available to us all on a hand-held phone.

Many here no longer want to be on specific time frames. They favor freedom in choices.

It is why streaming programming has become more popular than watching it on prime-time television. Weekly Nielsen ratings prove that premise. The top 10 shows, as of last week, were all sports-related. They included National Football League games in prime time, the postgame shows, college football and an American League Championship series game. Not until No. 12 was there a prime time drama, “Tracker,” which is on CBS.

This never would have been the case in the late 1990s. Viewers historically made time for “Seinfeld” on Thursday evenings on NBC. If they did not, the now-antique Video Cassette Recorder was set to tape the episode.

In May, a bill sponsored by Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton established early in-person voting at polls. It passed along party lines, 102-101, but remains bottled up in the Senate, The Center Square news organization reported.

“As the birthplace of our great nation and Democracy in America, Pennsylvania should continue to be a bellwether for voter access,” McClinton told The Center Square, calling her bill a “common sense measure to improve the way Pennsylvania conducts our elections.”

It also, for better or worse, is the direction many engaged Americans are moving toward. They want to be part of the process, but also want it to be on their time.

John D’Agostino is editor of the Times Observer, The Post-Journal and OBSERVER in Dunkirk, N.Y. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 814-723-8200, ext. 253.