March 24, 2008: Deadline to Register to Vote in PA Primary!

NOTE ADDED SEPTEMBER 8, 2008: The information below was about the 2008 PRIMARY Election. For information on the deadline to register to vote for the PRESIDENTIAL Election in Pennsylvania in 2008, go here.

As long as I've been registered to vote I've been a registered Independent. I blame this as much on J.A. Panuska, S.J. , the President of the University of Scranton during my days there, as on anything else. In an interview published in the weekly campus paper, The Aquinas, Fr. Panuska revealed that he had been a lifetime registered Indepedent, so that he would never be beholden to any political party, any more than they could presume his automatic support. It seemed like a good, principled stand to take on a fairly basic issue, so I decided to adopt it for myself.

Besides, I live in Pennsylvania. Just about the only thing being registered for a particular party means (for non-politicians, or those not seeking political favors) is that you get to vote in that party's Primary election to decide who runs in the General election. For the most part I simply trusted my fellow Pennsylvanians to decide for themselves who would best represent their party in the General election. The only election that I seriously cared deeply and passionately about was the Presidential election. And since Pennsylvania's Primary comes so late in the season, it pretty much never made a difference. The candidates were already selected long before Pennsylvania, one of the largest and most diverse states in the Union, ever got a chance to give its opinion.

2008 is different. In 2008 Pennsylvania's vote matters in the Primary race, on the Democratic side at least.

And here I am, a registered Independent. Unable to cast my vote.

Or so I thought.

As I pulled up to my house this afternoon to check for storm-related damage (there is none! HOORAY!) I heard a brief news clip that said that the deadline to register to vote in the Primary is March 24.

Huh? I had always thought it was sometime last November.

I can has chance to vote in Prezdenchal Primerry? Excellent!

I called the Luzerne County Courthouse, intending to run up directly to change my party affiliation. And they told me that, yes, I could run up and fill out the form right away...or I could log on to the series of tubes known as the Internet, go to the county's site, print out the form, send it in, and be all done!

So that's what I did. Here's the link:

http://www.luzernecounty.org/county/departments_agencies/bureau_of_elections/register_to_vote

Of course, this is only good for those of us who live in Luzerne County. If you live in another county, you will have to go to your specific county's website, or fill out the form however it is filled out where you live.

In 2008, Pennsylvania has a chance to determine who will be the Democratic candidate for the President. Don't miss out on your opportunity to be a part of that. But hurry - deadline for registration is March 24, 2008!