Election Day in Philadelphia: What you need to know to vote
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Welcome to your Election Day cheat sheet.
Why it matters: Control of Pennsylvania's state government is on the line Tuesday and Philly is poised to send a progressive to Congress.
🏆 Top of the ticket: The gubernatorial election is the premier race on the ballot.
- Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is seeking a second term and is challenged by Republican Stacy Garrity and Libertarian Ken Krawchuk.
- Yes, but: Shapiro has held significant leads in both fundraising and polls throughout the campaign.
📌 State races: All 203 seats in the state House are on the ballot and half of the 50 state Senate seats (those in even-numbered districts).
- Dems currently hold a majority in the House while the GOP maintains control of the Senate.
👀 Between the lines: Democrats see a potential opening to flip the Senate and win a trifecta in state government — control of the House, Senate and governor's mansion.
🌆 In Philly: The city proper has a pair of ballot questions for voters:
- Whether to give small businesses preferences for city contracts.
- Establish Creative Philadelphia, an office that promotes arts and culture, as an official city agency.
🏛️ Congress: All members of the U.S. House are also up for election.
- That includes Philly's 3rd Congressional District, where Democrat and progressive Chris Rabb is very likely to prevail against an independent challenger in the deeply blue district.
- Rabb has drawn national attention as moderate and progressive Dems battle for the future of the party.
⚖️ Plus: A handful of congressional races across Pennsylvania will likely help determine the balance of power in Congress.
- 1 race to watch: Republican Brian Fitzpatrick in the 1st Congressional District, who's held the seat since 2017 in Bucks County.
- Fitzpatrick is seen as a bellwether for the GOP's fortunes in deep purple Pennsylvania and is perennially targeted by Dems.
- He's taking on Democrat Bob Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner.
📨 Early voting: While many will head to the polls Tuesday in person, more than 1 million mail-in and absentee ballots have already been cast as of Friday, per the Department of State's website.
- Of those, Philly contributed at least 89,800 ballots — the bulk of which were from registered Democrats (86%).
🗳️ How to vote: Polls are open Tuesday between 7am-8pm. Find your polling place here.
- Mail-in ballots must be received by election boards no later than 8pm on Election Day.
- In Philly, voters can return mail-in ballots at election offices and drop boxes throughout the city.
👀 What we're watching: Whether voters will turn out across the state.
- The last midterm election with the governor on the ballot in 2022 drew 54% of eligible voters.
Worth noting: Voting complaints can be reported to the district attorney's election task force hotline at 215-686-9641.
- Voting issues can also be reported to the nonpartisan Election Protection group's hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683).