PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – If you want to vote in this election, which is now 18 days away, you are facing a critical deadline. 

Monday is the deadline to register to vote and before then, you might want to check to see if you’re registered. 

This is a contentious election and the last thing you want to do is find out when it’s too late and you don’t get to have a say in the outcome. 

For years, you’ve done your patriotic duty, stood in line, and voted to make your voice heard, but now, are you still on the election rolls? Some people are shocked to find out they have been removed. 

“If you haven’t voted, if you’ve moved, if someone has challenged your residency, which has happened for tens of thousands of folks in Allegheny County, there is a chance that they, you know, removed you from the rolls,” said Abigail Gardner of Allegheny County said. 

Gardner said before Monday, that anyone who worries they may have been removed from the voter rolls can go to VotesPA.com and check to see if they are still registered to vote. 

“If it’s showing that you’re inactive, if you did move and you need to update your address, you have until this coming Monday, October 21 to re-register, you know, update your voter registration,” Gardner said. 

It’s easy and can be done in minutes. 

Now, about those mail-in ballots, if you get one, it will have three parts. 

“The first one is your ballot, then you have a secrecy envelope, and then you have your outer envelope, which is your declaration envelope,” Gardner explained. “First things first, is your vote. You make sure to fill in those ovals and then try not to make any other marks on the ballot besides that. You’re going to fold it into thirds, and then, very importantly, you’re going to put in the yellow envelope that says ‘Official Election Ballot.’ We call this the secrecy envelope.” 

The yellow envelope goes in the declaration envelope and you sign that with the date you filled it out, not Election Day, not your birthday, the day you filled it out. 

“So, if you forget to sign, if you forget to date, or you forget your secrecy envelope [Allegheny County] are returning this ballot to you,” Gardner said. “We’re going to send it back to you in the mail and say we identified an error,” Gardner said. 

Then you can get it back to the board of elections by 8 p.m. on Election day. No ballots that arrive in the mail the next day or any time after that will count and that is by court order. 

While Gardner could not put an exact number on it, she said that since the 2020 presidential election, a lot of registrations have been challenged and said that number is in the thousands. So again, head to the link above and make sure you’re registered by Monday or it will be too late.