The Warren League of Women Voters participated in National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday with multiple sites set up throughout the county to answer questions and help residents prepare for the November general election.
The information distributed at 14 sites throughout the county to help voters prepare for the election included information on the state's new voter ID law, the absentee ballot process and applications for voter registration.
Commonwealth Court has until next Tuesday to either strike down or allow the state's controversial voter identification law.
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Times Observer photo by Ben Klein
National Voter Registration Day
Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day and the Warren League of Women Voters set up sites to help residents throughout the county prepare for the Nov. 6 general election. Volunteer David Snyder, right, is shown helping a Warren resident register to vote at the Warren Public Library.
Phyllis Wright, president of the Warren League of Women Voters, said it's difficult for some voters who need to obtain the voter ID to get to the PennDOT Driver Licensing Center on Hatch Run Road during its regular hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The registration sites can start the voting process and provide the necessary information since a "concern is not having all the information so they can do this in one stop," she said.
"I'd like to encourage people to go on www.votespa.com and they can download the forms that are needed and there is also more information," Wright said.
The PennDOT photo and exam center at 984 Hatch Run Rd. is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
When visiting the center, "The person needs to ask for the free voter ID card," Wright said. "They do not need the driver's license photo ID, which is $13.50, to vote."
Oct. 9 is the voter registration deadline and Oct. 30 is the last day to apply for civilian absentee ballots. Nov. 2 is the last day for county board of elections to receive voted civilian absentee ballots and Nov. 6 is the general election.
The theme for Tuesday was "Register in September, make it count in November" and at the site set up in the Warren Mall, the response from people over a four-hour period was nearly five-to-one of those registered to those who aren't.
"We've had ... overwhelmingly that people are registered," Reese Campbell, volunteer with the League of Women Voters, said. "It looks like people are ready to participate this year."
Campbell estimated nearly 100 people had said they were already registered, 20 said they weren't, and four people filled out a voter registration form.
"We're encouraging participation in government and a lot of people have moved and don't remember that they have to change their registration or that they have to go to the old polling place," a volunteer at the Allegheny Community Center said. "We just want to make it easy for people to vote."
Training for the volunteers was provided by Liza Zuck of the county's Voter Registration/Election office. Questions about the registration and voting process can be answered at Zuck's office, 728-3406, in the Warren County Courthouse.
The Department of Motor Vehicles announced Tuesday that 48 PennDOT Driver Licensing Centers that would normally be closed on Monday, Nov. 5, the day before the election, would be open "to better serve customers with last-minute Voter ID needs."
The PennDOT Driver Licensing Center at Hatch Run Road is not one of the centers that will be open that day.